Girls are being urged not to travel to school alone as police hunt a man who reportedly approached pupils before they were "teenage girl was touched inappropriately". GloucestershireLive reports that three lone female South Gloucestershire and Stroud College students have been approached by a man who has asked them for the time - before taking their shoes off and sniffing their feet.
As a result, SGS College has encouraged its students not to travel alone to and from school. Avon and Somerset Police have released an E-fit image of a man they want to speak to.
Officers have also confirmed that they are looking into the possibility that the behaviour is linked to incidents that took place back in March. That involved a girl being touched inappropriately in an underpass in Yate.
In a statement, the college said: "The police have advised students not to walk to or from college alone, have mobile phones with them when walking to and from college and to call 999 straight away if any unknown male tries to come up to them or speak to them without a valid reason."
It added: "The male has been described as being a white male, 5ft 6ins, skinny build, short blond/brown hair, patchy beard, blue eyes, spotty complexion and around 19 years old. He has targeted females between the ages of 10 and 15 with in the areas of Yate and Chipping Sodbury between 3pm and 5pm."
Avon and Somerset Police said: "We’re releasing an E-fit of a man we want to identify in connection with an incident in which a teenage girl was touched inappropriately. The victim described the offender as white, with blonde hair and aged in his 20s around 5ft 9in tall. He was wearing a light red, blue and white block colour coat, dark trousers and blue trainers.
"Officers are also keeping an open mind as to whether the incident is linked with another which took place on Monday, March 21, at 4.30pm. In this incident a white man touched a girl inappropriately in an underpass near Sandhurst Street, Yate. On both occasions the victims ran away and were unhurt. The E-fit image we’re releasing is based on the description of the offender in the first incident."
Anyone with information is urged to call police on 101, quoting the following reference numbers 5222011047/5222067867 and 5222125160.
