An 11 year old girl had just left a newsstand Southeast London when she was approached by a man in his 30's who tried to talk to her. A woman in her 50's was walking nearby and overheard the man ask the girl if she was alone. She quickly deduced that the man was a stranger and decided to stay within ear shot. When she heard him suggest that they leave together, she jumped in.
The man tried to argue with the woman, who encouraged the girl to come into a store with her. The owner of the newsstand watched the scene unfold. "A few seconds later she came out of the shop and challenged the man,” the newsstand owner recalls, “I heard her say to him that she was going to call the police and she asked the girl to come with her." The girl then followed the woman into the store, and the man walked away.
The Metropolitan Police are now searching for the man and an accomplice who were both caught on CCTV footage. The heroic intervention by the Good Samaritan has been widely praised, and authorities say the incident serves as a reminder of the importance of people looking out for one another in the community.