This week 30 years ago: Girl, 6, foils kidnapper in Ringcross Estate
Islington Gazette: January 15, 1988 - Credit: Archant
A brave six-year-old girl foiled a kidnapper who tried to snatch her friends.
Claire Delaney had been playing with Samantha Radley and two other friends in the Ringcross Estate in the Cally.
They were walking home when a man, holding a piece of rope, accosted them. He asked their names, offered them sweets and got hold of Samantha, also aged six, and another girl.
Quick thinking Claire told her friends to scream, grabbed their hands and ran them to Samantha’s home.
Police praised her actions, as did Samantha’s mum, of Soldene Court off Mackenzie Road. “Claire was very brave,” she said. I’m just thankful she’s such an outward-going girl.”
Claire’s mum, Irene Delaney, of Papworth Gardens off George’s Road, added: “I’m very pleased she took heed of all my warnings.”
Their school, Ringcross School in Eden Grove, warned parents to “keep an extra eye on their kids for safety”.
