POLICE are warning schoolchildren to beware of strangers following a number of incidents involving a man in a blue car, who has been seen acting suspiciously around children.

Officers are investigating the incidents - there have been 11 reported cases since the beginning of the year - but stress that they don't want to cause unnecessary alarm to parents, children or teachers.

They do feel however, that it is important that members of the public are made aware of the situation so they can remain alert and warn children about the dangers of talking to strangers.

On one occasion the man stopped an eight-year-old girl to speak to her and at other times he has followed the children in his car.

In most of the incidents the children - boys and girls of different ages - have described a man in a blue car acting suspiciously near to where they were playing or walking.

There is no set pattern, such as a particular time, but a man fitting the same description has been involved in incidents in the morning, afternoon and early evenings; and events have occurred in several places including the Lickers Lane area of Whiston, Prescot, Rainhill, Huyton and Halewood.

Varying descriptions have been given of the blue car, but the majority of the children questioned by police have described the driver of the vehicle as white with short brown hair.

The police are not linking the latest incidents with an attempted abduction of a boy in Rainhill on Monday, January 6, but a spokeswoman stressed: "It is not our intention to frighten people but we feel it's important that they are aware of the circumstances so they can take the necessary steps to warn their children as to the dangers of speaking to strangers."

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