THE mother of a four-year-old girl indecently assaulted in the street has told how the youngster re-lives the nightmare of what happened every day.

The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has repeatedly asked her mum, 'When is the naughty man going to jail?'

The Blackburn mother said: "It has been a nightmare over the past couple of days for us all.

"She can't seem to forget what happened, sometimes she is alright and goes off playing as usual, then she will suddenly ask me if the man has been caught, which shows that she hasn't forgotten about her ordeal, which is the thing that hurts the most.

"I'm angry because I cannot give her a definite answer as to when he will go to prison and I want to be able to, to put her mind at rest."

The four-year-old was approached while out playing near to her home on Sunday at 1.30pm in the Bank Top area of Blackburn when a man dragged her into the rear yard of a house close to her home, and was indecently assaulted.

Police say they are linking the attack with reports of other incidents in the area.

Although the police said yesterday that they had had a good response to their appeal for witnesses, the mother of the little girl says she cannot rest until he is caught.

She said: "I have not been able to sleep at night knowing that this evil person is still out there, and I feel very protective over my other three children now and won't let them play out.

"Anybody with any information should still go to the police and tell them what they know no matter how small or insignificant they think it might be.

"It has been four days now since it all happened and who knows where he is or what he has done -- I dread to think about it."

The man is described as being white, 6ft tall, short brown hair, and wearing sunglasses.

Anybody with any information should contact Blackburn Police on 01254 51212.