PARENTS and pensioners spoke today of their shock after a man tried to grab a 13-year-old cyclist on an Ipswich estate. The unnamed teenager was cycling along Donegal Road on the Whitehouse Estate when a man shouted at her.

By Amanda Cresswell

PARENTS and pensioners spoke today of their shock after a man tried to grab a 13-year-old cyclist on an Ipswich estate.

The unnamed teenager was cycling along Donegal Road on the Whitehouse Estate when a man shouted at her.

She was approached by the man who attempted to grab her but the youngster rode off to the safety of her home.

The incident happened at 5 pm yesterday just as the service of celebration and remembrance for murdered Cambridge schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman was being broadcast on television.

Mum of two Nicola Keeble, 24, who lives in Donegal Road, said: "It is just getting worse. To be honest, it is terrible nowadays. You just can't trust anybody.

"I didn't see or hear anything but it is scary for something like this to happen so close to home. If someone grabbed one of my children I don't know what I'd do.

Nicola, who has children aged ten months and three years, added: "It makes me wonder when my children get older what is it going to be like for them."

A police spokesman said the youngster was unharmed and when she returned home told a parent who contacted police.

Pensioner Valerie Syrett, said: "I didn't hear anything but there is a lot of noise in this street, especially in the early hours. It doesn't surprise me as this sort of thing appears to be about everywhere now."

The man is described as white with bleached blond hair, of average height in his 20's.

He was wearing a blue top and jeans.

Witnesses are asked to contact Suffolk Police on 01473 – 613500.

Two thousand people had filled Ely Cathedral last night for the service for Holly and Jessica, the ten year old girls who went missing from their Soham homes on August 4 and whose bodies were found near RAF Lakenheath 13 days later.