Meersbrook Park Sheffield: Police called over 'man with knife who threatened to chase and rape children'

By Robert Cumber
Published 16th Sep 2022, 04:45 BST
Updated 16th Sep 2022, 11:14 BST
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now
A worried mum has told how a man armed with a knife threatened to rape her 10-year-old son and his friends in a popular Sheffield park.

She said the youngsters had just left Carfield Primary School and were walking through Meersbrook Park after school on Tuesday, September 13 when the terriying incident happened.

“They were walking up the grass bank above the playground and there was a man there who threatened them with a kitchen knife,” said the woman, who asked not to be named.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad
Read More
Why a child's murder which shocked Sheffield has remained unsolved for 15 years
Meersbrook Park, Sheffield, where a man with a knife reportedly threatened to chase and rape a group of primary school childrenMeersbrook Park, Sheffield, where a man with a knife reportedly threatened to chase and rape a group of primary school children
Meersbrook Park, Sheffield, where a man with a knife reportedly threatened to chase and rape a group of primary school children

“He showed them the knife, which had a sizeable blade, and he threatened to chase them and rape them.

"They immediately ran to my ex-partner’s house and he reported it to police.

“My son was really shaken up at the time. They were just walking past the man. They hadn’t aggravated him or anything.

“It’s obviously really, really worrying.

Sheffield school exclusions: The nine secondary schools suspending and expelling the most pupils

"The last thing I want is my son being frightened to use the park.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

She described the man as being in his mid-50s, white and bald. She said he had a wispy beard and was wearing a white T-shirt.

She added that police had said on the day it happened that they believed they knew the man responsible and would be able to find him.

South Yorkshire Police confirmed that it was called on Tuesday at around 4.20pm to reports that an unknown man had ‘behaved in a threatening manner towards a group of children’.

A spokesperson for the force said: “It is reported that a group of 10-year-old children were walking through Meersbrook Park when an unknown man is believed to have started being verbally abusive towards the group.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“It is believed the man showed the children a knife while making the threats. The children fled from the park unharmed and told their parents, who then alerted police.

“The park was searched but no individual was located and no knife was found. The investigation has been filed pending any further information becoming available.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 101 or via the force’s website, quoting incident number 695 of September 13.

Carfield Primary School texted parents on Wednesday, saying: “It has come to our attention that there has been a man in Meersbrook Park threatening children. Police have been informed. Please be vigilant.”