POLICE hunting a dangerous paedophile who snatched a six-year-old girl have issued a description of the man and details of where he may have taken her.

Officers are looking for the abductor, who took the child from her bath, drove her away in a car, then dumped her, naked, about 15 minutes later in a snowy back lane in North Tyneside.

A spokeswoman for Northumbria Police said the youngster has given detectives a partial description.

She said they were looking for a white man, who is between 5ft 4in and 5ft 8in tall. He was wearing a black hat, black coat and black gloves.

The spokeswoman said the girl told officers he was "not skinny" and had hair on the side of his face, possibly sideburns.

She said they were keeping an open mind about the suspect's age because the girl had based her assessment on his height.

Detectives said they had pieced together part of the route along which the abductor may have taken the girl, after she pointed out landmarks in the Wallsend area. The spokeswoman said these include the Kwik Save supermarket, in Hadrian Road, and the Rose Inn, in Church Bank.

She said they believe the route also included Park Road, Laurel Street, High Street, High Street East and Tynemouth Road.

The girl has not visited the spots since, but was able to recall seeing them as she was driven naked through the streets. The youngster was abandoned in Armstrong Road.

The girl's 71-year-old grandmother said: "She is a bright little girl and she will help the police as much as possible.

"The police told us not to make a big issue of it, to be as normal as possible, but if she said anything herself to tell them."

Detective Chief Inspector Jim Napier has asked the abductor to search his conscience and give himself up.

But no one has come forward to say they saw a man acting suspiciously in the area last Tuesday night.

Yesterday, Det Chief Insp Napier said: "We would ask anyone who was in this area last Tuesday evening, between 7pm and 7.30pm, who noticed anything suspicious, particularly a vehicle being driven erratically or in a strange manner with driver possibly being distracted, to contact us."

Det Chief Insp Napier has previously described the attacker as "extremely dangerous".

Officers have been speaking to known sex offenders in the North-East as a priority.

Anyone with information is asked to call 0191-214 6555, extension 63806