4:22pm Wednesday 24th June 2009
By Dan Kerins
POLICE are looking for a man who pretended to be a teenager online to meet a 13-year-old girl in Hampshire.
A 13-year-old girl from Southampton had been using an online chat room to talk to a boy who claimed he was called Mark Richards, aged 17 and from Eastleigh.
After speaking online for a while the boy said he lived in Eastleigh, and suggested the pair should meet up.
They arranged to meet outside of the Two Brothers pub in Townhill Way, Chartwell Green, West End.
The girl went along to the meeting, and took her 20-year-old brother with her.
The man arrived and spoke briefly to the girl, but ran away when the girl’s brother introduced himself and challenged him.
The man is described as white, around 30 years old and about 6ft 1 tall and of a slim build.
He had brown hair, brown eyes and a tattoo on his upper right arm.
At the time of the meeting, he was wearing a light beige top and beige three-quarter length trousers.
PC Kerrie Malin said, “We are looking to identify this man as soon as possible so that we can talk to him about what happened.
“I would advise young people to be aware of the risks when talking to people online – in some cases the details people give out about themselves are not correct.
"If you are at all suspicious then it is important to tell someone about who you are talking to, not to give out personal information about yourself, and do not agree to meet them.”
The meeting outside the Two Brothers took place around 2.30pm on May 25.
Anyone with any information about this incident should contact PC Kerrie Malin at Eastleigh police station on 0845 045 45 45, or call Crimestoppers, the charity, anonymously on 0800 555 111.
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