Man arrested after attempted abduction of boy in west London

A man has been arrested in connection with the attempted abduction of a five-year-old boy in a park in west London.

The suspect picked up the child at about 2.30pm on 7 January at Northala Fields, Northolt, before running a short distance carrying him. The suspect put the boy down after his mother confronted him, and the child was unharmed by the incident.

The Metropolitan police said a 27-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of attempted abduction of a child at an address in Surrey on Saturday and taken into custody. The force had released a CCTV image of the suspect in a bid to track him down.

DC Ashleigh Nelson said at the time: “Incidents of this nature are very rare, but I understand the concern it may have caused in the local community. I want to reassure people we are doing everything we can to find out who is responsible.”