Armed police hunt for 'dangerous' man who chases after schoolchildren in Milton Keynes

A worried dad of one of the youngsters has put out a warning to parents all over Milton Keynes - and discovered the man may have struck on two previous occasions.

“I put his description of Facebook and two people messaged me to say a man of the same description had threatened their children too,” said the dad.

“He is clearly extremely dangerous and needs to be caught.”

The dad said his daughter and her friends, who are all 12 years old, are still traumatised by what happened.

The two boys and two girls were walking home from Stantonbury Campus school at about 3.20pm when the man and his dog approached them on the redway, near the underpass between Bradville and Heelands.

“He started shouting abuse at them, using the F word and the C word, and generally acted in a very threatening manner,” he said.

The terrified youngsters tried to run away from him but the man gave chase, sprinting at high speed along the redway.

“One of the girls managed to run off into the woods and hid behind a tree, while the two boys gave him the slip by hiding underneath a car,” said the dad.

“My own daughter managed to run off towards some houses and banged on the door of one of them in a petrified state. The people kindly took her in and looked after her.”

A member of the public witnessed the man’s behaviour and dialled 999. Within minutes an armed response unit turned out, but they failed to find any trace of the culprit.

He is described as white, in his 20s or 30s, with short hair. He was wearing a black football top, football shorts and carrying a dog lead, which he threw on the floor before the chased the children.

He has an accent which may have been Scottish and the children believe he was under the influence of drink.

The dog was a terrier-type, possibly a Staffie.

Anybody with information should contact police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.