Parents warned to be on the alert after attempted child abductions

THE evil spectre of attempted child abduction visited County Louth last week where parents were told to be on alert after a man tried to lure two 10-year-old girls into his car.

Gardaí in Dundalk, where the attempted abductions took place, said the man, who was in his 30s or 40s with short brown hair, glasses and an earring, spoke to the youngsters in the Cedar Wood Park area.

He had asked the two girls directions to a nearby church before offering them money to get into the car.

The young girls became suspicious and refused his advances. The girls went home where they raised the alarm shortly after 8pm on the evening in question.

Gardaí investigating this worrying case believe the same man pulled up alongside a 12-year-old girl in another estate in Coxes Demesne sometime earlier. The man drove off when she was called by her brother.

The car was described by the girls as white and was thought to have a Northern Ireland registration plate. It was later seen in the Fatima area of the town.

Last week, detectives were considering the possibility that the same man was responsible for a number of similar abduction attempts in the area over the past few weeks.

There have been a number of reports of a man acting suspiciously around children in Dundalk in recent weeks.

Gardaí have warned parents and child minders about children’s safety after receiving 38 separate reports in the past two months of attempts to lure children into vehicles.

Many of the reported, 27, were made in the Dublin area, but reports have been recorded in other areas including Portlaoise, Mullingar, Monasterevin as well as Thurles, Dundalk and Cork, where three incidents occurred.