A distressed father has spoken of the terrifying moment a woman attempted to abduct his two-year-old son in a busy shop over the weekend.
Jon Baylis, who works for the NHS said he was left on his own to fend off the stranger in a Schuh shop in Cornwall while she screamed out 'that's my baby, he's taken my baby'.
The dad was calling out for help and says he feels very let down by the staff and other members of the public who ignored him and didn't call the police when it was obvious he and his son were in danger. Now, other parents have also come forward to say they were also followed by a woman of the same description in the city of Truro over the weekend, Cornwall Live reports.
Jon had been in the city centre on Sunday morning (April 2) while he was shopping for toys with his toddler Dexter. He recalls walking out of TK Maxx and down Pydar street when a female in her late 50s or early 60s approached her son and said: "Hello, beautiful looking boy".
Jon smiled and said hello to her but he then noticed she had followed him into the next shop he was in but initially thought nothing of it. He told CornwallLive: "I noticed her close behind me as I was walking through Truro and started feeling odd.
"I could see her really close in the reflections in shop windows." When Jon went into Clarks to look for shoes for Dexter, he noticed the woman sitting on stools behind them and she began holding her hands out to the little boy and asking the dad if she could hold him.
He said: "I said 'sorry, no' and went to leave, alarm bells started to go off then I realised she was in my bubble really close behind me, so I pretended I forgot something and went to the back of the store again. She stopped and followed, I picked up Dex and left the store with the woman following close behind."
When Jon went into Schuh, things went from bad to worse as she approached him again and demanded him to 'let me hold him'. He said: "I headed to the back of the store. As I got there and turned to check and she was right in my face saying 'let me hold him'.
"I told her 'you need to stay away now and back off, I don't want to hurt you'. She then started screaming 'that's my baby, he's taken my baby'.
"I started shouting for help from the public and staff but no one did a thing, they just carried on serving and looking at shoes. This lady came at me three times and I had to push her away, shouting 'stay away, I don't want to hurt you'.
"I was shouting at staff to get this woman away from me, she's trying to take my son but no one did a thing to remove her or to take me and my son to safety out the back of the store. I asked them to call the police but they said they couldn't and I would have to do it."
While keeping the threatening stranger at bay and grasping Dexter with one hand, Jon had to desperately rummage through his pockets that were filled with toys, drinks, and his son's hat and gloves to find his phone. The helpless parent said: "I've never felt so alone in a packed store which I've shopped in for years.
"I'm so disappointed in the staff and the general public. Once I got my phone out the woman ran out of the store. Heading back to the multi-storey car park, I was so paranoid and looking over my shoulder every two minutes."
Jon has informed the police about the woman who followed him and they have told him they will look through CCTV footage at the shops and get back to him. The stranger was described as being in her late 50s or early 60s, of slim build with white/blonde hair and was wearing distinctive blue eyeliner and smart clothes.
The dad said: "I just want other parents out there to be careful. If I didn't have him on the reins it could have been a lot worse. I nearly had my two-year-old son abducted from Truro, but got no help from the public or from the staff which is so disgusting. I felt alone in a packed shop."
After posting about the horrifying incident on Facebook, Jon was contacted by other parents who say they were approached by the same woman in Truro. A mum who was out shopping with her two-year-old daughter in M&S was left shaken after she had an unsettling encounter with the woman on Sunday.
She said she hid from her before finding a security guard who escorted the mysterious woman out of the shop. Another man said a woman fitting the same description followed him from M&S to Mountain Warehouse in Truro on Saturday while he was pushing a pram and said she only left once he rang his wife and said a 'strange woman' was stalking him.
A spokesperson for Devon and Cornwall Police said: "Police were notified shortly before 1pm on Sunday, April 2 of a woman behaving suspiciously in Truro. It was reported that she approached a man and child and had followed and shouted at them. The woman left the area shortly after.
"The local neighbourhood policing team have been informed and are making enquiries in efforts to identify the woman." Schuh's head office has been contacted for comment after the manager of the Truro store said she was unable to say anything about the incident.
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