Pupils praised for foiling abduction

3:00pm Tuesday 26th June 2012 in Local News By Gina Marden

A HEADTEACHER praised two quick-thinking girls after a man tried to lure them into his car.

The sixth formers, aged 17 and 19, were walking near their school, King John School in Shipwrights Drive, Thundersley, when the incident happened.

A man pulled up alongside the teenagers and made a suggestive comment before trying to convince them to get into his car.

But the brave girls ignored the him and calmly walked into school, where they promptly told teachers what had happened.

Staff then reported the incident to police, through their safeguarding officer .

Headteacher Margaret Wilson praised the girls’ for staying calm and informing staff. She said the girls had done exactly what the school advises youngsters to do when approached by strangers, which is to not engage in conversation and to walk away and raise the alarm.

Mrs Wilson said: “The girls were out during school hours, which sixth-formers are allowed to do, when this man made lewd comments and asked them to get into his car.

“We do a lot of work with our students about personal safety, so they know what to do in these circumstances. The girls did exactly what we would have expected them to, they walked away, came into school and told staff. We always remind all our students when they are outside school to walk to bus stops, to school or home, in pairs.

“We are very pleased the girls acted so calmly and did the right thing by informing staff.”

The incident happened on Thursday morning. Police were unable to supply a description of the man at this stage of the investigation. However, they asked anyone with information to call police at Canvey on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Comments(13)

jxr says...
3:41pm Tue 26 Jun 12

Abduction??? Sounds like some old perv trying his luck chatting up a couple of teenage schoolgirls!

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emcee says...
3:49pm Tue 26 Jun 12

Abduction?
This guy probably saw two young women (as they were out of school and, I assume, not wearing uniform) and decided that he was going to try and "pull". How can everybody can automatically assume an abduction attempt is beyond be. We do not even have a description of the man. Was he 19 or 59 years old. Was he sinister or just being overly forward.
OK, so the girls showed common sense but is that newsworthy. This sort of thing probably happens every Friday and Saturday night.

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rjsizzler says...
3:57pm Tue 26 Jun 12

Adbuction? (thirded). Hardly.

The worst abduction attempt ever; man pulls up, says something pervy but doesn't even get out of the car! Oh hang on, it wasn't an abduction attempt at all.

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southendnan says...
4:22pm Tue 26 Jun 12

The article says the man tried to convince the girls 2 get into his car. I would class that as an attempted abduction which if he'd approached a younger girl might have worked but attempted abduction or not how would you feel if your young daughter had been approached in this way. Well done to the girls for keeping calm and let's hope if he tries it again he's equally unsuccessful.

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UK Fan says...
5:07pm Tue 26 Jun 12

Good grief were they desperate trying to fill the pages of their fishwrapper. The 'girls' were adult women, not 12 year olds. Surely, you can expect this from any woman of that age.

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Terry2says says...
5:25pm Tue 26 Jun 12

What a bad school for learning ! 6th form girls couldn't between them read a number plate ??? 6 or 7 digits between them that's ridiculous. You don't need to be an egghead or a chaser to remember 6 or 7 digits between 2 people. DONT believe this story .. SORRY !

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whataday says...
5:52pm Tue 26 Jun 12

Glad the girls are okay Hope they catch the pervert and give him the punishment he deserves.

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Steve H says...
6:52pm Tue 26 Jun 12

whataday wrote:
Glad the girls are okay Hope they catch the pervert and give him the punishment he deserves.
Pervert???? Thats a bit strong? There is nothing said in the article that warrants your reaction. A man makes a suggestive comment to 2 adults and all of a sudden you assume paedophile. I bet you're the kind that spread rumours about Doctors that specialise in children.

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emcee says...
8:24pm Tue 26 Jun 12

whataday wrote:
Glad the girls are okay Hope they catch the pervert and give him the punishment he deserves.
There is no substatiated evidence to assume this man was a pervert. He was probably just a chancer trying to get of with a couple of young women.
Until evidence arises to prove otherwise, nobody has a right to brand this man a "pervert" and the Echo has no right to assume abduction.
Unless the Echo can come up with some substantal evidence to suggest the line of this article then it should be ashamed with itself for over-sensationalism (again).

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rjsizzler says...
8:31pm Tue 26 Jun 12

Absolutely.

The man in question could quite comfortably walk into a police station and say it was him - he hasn't committed any offence!

It's a bit seedy to pull over and proposition some girls in thier late teens, but no law against it.

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pendulum says...
12:05am Thu 28 Jun 12

The title of this article is terribly misleading. It makes me doubt whether I can believe anything else the Echo writes about when such obvious inaccuracies are present in this story. :o(

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perini says...
1:28pm Thu 28 Jun 12

These girls shouldn't even be allowed out by themselves if they don't know not to go with strangers at their age!

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onorris24 says...
12:14am Fri 29 Jun 12

I left the school last year and this is not the first time something like this has happened. IT wasn't so to say frequent but it happened a few times but we were always warned about it and told to keep safe.

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