A MOTHER is warning parents of the dangers of leaving child-ren unattended after she foiled an attempt to snatch her son.

The woman was shopping at High Newham Court, at Hardwick, in Stockton, on Saturday, when she left her two-year-old son in his pushchair outside the In-Shops.

She left him unattended for only a few minutes while she went into a DIY shop, but when she came out of the shop the pushchair was missing and she saw a man pushing it and the child away.

The 28-year-old, from the Hardwick Estate, approached the man and he immediately left the child and the pushchair and walked off.

She said: "All sorts of things ran through my mind. I thought that I had lost him. After the James Bulger incident it is very scary. All I kept thinking was it can't be happening to me.

"I didn't think twice in approaching him and asking him what he was doing. It made me feel sick, but all I wanted was for my son to be okay and to get him home.

"I was lucky to catch him."

The boy, the youngest of four children, was unaware of the drama being played out around him, and seems to have been left unaffected by the incident.

His mother said: "The whole incident has left me a lot more wary and I would urge other parents to be the same.

"It only takes a couple of minutes for this sort of thing to happen."

The man is described as 5ft 6in tall, of medium build and possibly of mixed race. He was wearing an overall and three-quarter length coat. He had a scruffy appearance, with a full black beard and black collar-length hair, which appeared uncombed.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Cleveland Police on (01642) 302227.