PARENTS were today told to make sure their youngsters knew what to do when approached by strangers after a third accosting incident in Felixstowe in less than three weeks.

By Richard Cornwell

PARENTS were today told to make sure their youngsters knew what to do when approached by strangers after a third accosting incident in Felixstowe in less than three weeks.

Police are appealing for information after a nine-year-old boy was approached by a man in a car on the town's Grange Farm estate.

The driver – said to be in his 30s – of a white-coloured car stopped next to the boy, who was walking along Grange Farm Avenue to the Safeway supermarket, and engaged him in conversation.

The youngster then remembered what his parents had said about talking to strangers and ran off to join his friends.

The incident happened on September 3 or 4 but was not reported to the police until last Friday, when the boy mentioned it to his mother.

Felixstowe police are appealing for anyone who may have information about the man or vehicle, or saw the car cruising the area, to contact them on 01473 613500.

It is the third incident to happen in the same area of the town.

Two weeks ago a man in a gold-coloured car accosted two young girls – aged 11 and 13 – in Grange Farm Avenue and asked them if they would like a lift.

Then a few days later a 17-year-old youth was approached after walking up the Pram Walk from the Ordnance roundabout at Felixstowe.

As he got to the railway bridge at the bottom of Coronation Drive, a man tried to get him into his car, believed to be a Peugeot 106. The teenager refused and ran off.

Police say all the youngsters involved did exactly the right thing by refusing to get into the vehicles and running away and immediately reporting the incidents.

They are urging children to be on their guard and asking parents to keep pushing home the message about stranger danger – especially with the country still reeling from the deaths of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.