A Northern Irish woman has taken to social media with a warning to other mums after a terrifying episode that saw an intruder try to steal her daughter from their family home in the middle of night.
Catherine McCracken said she was asleep at her home in Drumbeg in Craigavon, County Armagh, when she spotted someone 'tip-toe past' her bed at around 2.30am on Saturday morning and try to take her six-year-old daughter.
Initially thinking it was just her partner getting up to have a cigarette, Catherine then clocked the man's blue jeans - something her husband doesn't ever wear.
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"I got very frightened at this point and did not want to open my eyes but I knew I had to," she said.
"As I looked up I saw a man stand over my child, he had his hands down beside her."
She asked the intruder who he was, but at first he didn't move. Asking again but louder, the man then started moving towards Catherine, who shouted for her partner and gave chase to the man, who bolted out of the front door.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland explained they are looking into the 'disturbing incident'.
"We're dealing with a disturbing incident from the early hours of this morning in Drumbeg, Craigavon," a PSNI spokesperson said.
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Adding: "A mum with kids in bed alongside her was awoken between 2.30am and 2.45am to find a man standing over the end of her bed.
"Nothing was said, or taken, but when challenged by an understandably terrified home owner, he ran off down the stairs and out the front door. We believe he entered through an open upstairs window.
"He is described as a while male skinhead, tall, late 20s, wearing a cream shirt and blue jeans.
"This would be a petrifying ordeal for anyone, but more so for a parent with children to protect."
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Catherine later found ladders that had been position against her next door neighbour's property. Police think the unknown man must have gained access to their house through her son's upstairs bedroom window, which had been left open that night.
But the most worrying part came the next morning when Catherine's daughter revealed to her what she remembered from the night before - telling her mum the man had tried to 'lift her'.
Catherine continued: "She told me a man rubbed her hair in a circular motion... he tried to lift her.
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"She said he had black gloves, they looked like daddy's gloves, but she knew it wasn't her daddy.
"He said to her: 'Come with me.'
"Then she heard me shout at him."
Adding that her child is 'still upset', Catherine explained her daughter is waiting to speak to specially trained detectives.
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PSNI detectives have appealed for anyone who was in the area at the time of the incident, and may have spotted something, to call them on 101.
"Someone out there must have seen something," they said.
"There is a mum out there who will no doubt lie awake tonight worrying.
"Help us keep her safe. Help us find out who is responsible."
Featured Image Credit: PATopics: News, Northern Ireland, UK