West Midlands Police are seeking witnesses after a four-year-old boy was reportedly abducted at Haden Hill Park in Cradley Heath on Thursday afternoon and later found in nearby woodland. Officers were still in the area on Friday, and the force said it was reviewing CCTV footage and asking for mobile phone video from the time.
Haden Hill Park in Cradley Heath
The reported abduction happened at 15:00 BST near the fish pond in Haden Hill Park, Halesowen Road, in Cradley Heath, near Dudley. Police said the boy was missing for several minutes before he was found nearby, bringing a fast search to an end without any public appeal delay.
The person alleged to be involved was described as a man in his late teens, black, short in height and with curled hair. He was also described as clean shaven and wearing black clothing. Those details now sit at the centre of the witness appeal, because they are the only description police have released for anyone linked to the incident.
West Midlands Police CCTV
A West Midlands Police spokesperson said: “We believe this is an isolated incident but we understand how concerning it is and understand the impact it will have in the area and to the local community,” The force kept extra officers in the area on Friday to offer reassurance while it looked through CCTV from the park and surrounding routes.
The practical request is straightforward: anyone who saw what happened near the fish pond, or who filmed the park on a mobile phone around 15:00 BST, is being asked to come forward. The boy’s mother was tending to a baby when the reported abduction happened, and that detail places the incident in a brief, crowded moment rather than a long search.
What remains most urgent for people nearby is the gap in the timeline between the park and the woodland. Police have given a description of the person alleged to be involved, but the sequence of how the boy was taken and who that person was has not been publicly set out. For residents, the immediate next step is to check CCTV, video and memory from Thursday afternoon and pass anything relevant to West Midlands Police.
