Neighbourhood reeling after girl, 6, abducted and subjected to suspected sex assault

Members of a close-knit community say they were horrified to learn of the abduction and suspected sexual assault of a young girl. Residents in Droylsden woke up this morning (Thursday) to find police still outside following the incident the afternoon previous.

Greater Manchester Police says the incident began on a grassed area between Warne Avenue and Hawthorn Road at around 4.10pm. The girl - aged just six - is believed to have been led in the direction of the football field between Heron Drive and Brendan Drive, before being sexually assaulted.

Neighbours first learned of what had happened on Wednesday night. The grassed area was taped off, while a forensic tent was put up around a bench.

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One woman simply said: "It's too close to home, this." A dog walker spoke of her shock that the culprit struck in broad daylight - in an area surrounded by several homes.

"It's just so blatant," she said. "All those houses nearby. In winter, when it's dark, I walk down here thinking 'if I had to scream, someone would hear me'. It's normally really busy. Now it's eerily quiet, it's not nice.

"The poor family. Everyone is really upset that they hadn't seen anything."

Another woman said of the perpetrator: "What they've done... it doesn't bear thinking about."

One man told the Manchester Evening News: "I think it's disgusting... it's terrible.

"It's worrying, for sure." GMP has moved to reassure members of the public that detectives believe the incident was isolated.

Police remained at the scene on Thursday evening - more than 24 hours since they were first called out. "Yesterday evening there was a large police presence," one resident said.