A MAN grabbed an 11-year-old girl as she walked to school yesterday morning.

Detectives are now appealing for witnesses to the incident, which happened at 8.40am as the girl walked along Higher Shaftesbury Road, Blandford close to the junction with Holland Way.

The victim, a Blandford School pupil from the town, was able to run away and received only minor scratches, but was left shaken by the attack.

The school said it had warned its pupils to be on their guard.

Speaking to the Daily Echo yesterday, Detective Inspector Stewart Dipple, of Western CID, said: “These kind of incidents and assaults are very rare and certainly there’s nothing recently in Blandford to suggest this is a reoccurrence of any kind of incident.

“It seems like, from what we can piece together, he has grabbed the girl, she’s broken free from his grip then ran back on herself and he’s grabbed her again.”

DI Dipple said: “I am appealing for anyone who witnessed any suspicious activity along Higher Shaftesbury Road this morning to contact me immediately.”

Police cordoned off an area of the street while officers looked for clues.

Currently the offender is only described as being a white man. Witnesses should call Dorset Police on 101, quoting incident number 3:69 or call Crimestoppers on 0800555111.