POLICE hunting a pervert who is preying on children want to question a man who fled after being confronted and pursued by a mother of one of the victims.

The mum, whose nine year-old daughter had been sexually assaulted just over a week earlier, gave chase after her son spotted the man, who matched the description of his sister's attacker.

The man escaped, but detectives want to quiz him about a string of sex incidents involving children in the Flixton, Urmston and Davyhulme area.

The mum left her Flixton home after her son's tip off and saw a suspicious looking man. After a brief conversation he ran off with the 37 year-old mum in pursuit. She almost caught him, but he escaped.

The bizarre meeting happened one and a half weeks after the man assaulted her daughter - and exposed himself to other children in separate incidents.

There have been six incidents this month, ranging from indecent assault, gross indecency to indecent exposure. The man usually strikes in the morning before school, early in the afternoon and in the early evening.

The mum who confronted him is reinforcing a warning from the police for parents to be on the alert to safeguard their children. The mother is also demanding that the council cut down thick overgrowth, next to the pedestrian bridge at Parsonage Road, Flixton where her daughter was attacked - and where a man has since been seen lurking by a little girl. The footbridge was highlighted in Grotspots last week.

She says: "My son told me he had seen a man like the one described walking past the house and then later he told me the man was outside again. I went out and he was facing the house. I saw immediately that he matched the description. I told him he had just dropped some money. He had not but I just wanted to get a look at him and to keep him there. He started to back away and then legged it. I ran after him and although I got to a few inches of him, I could not catch him.

"Until this man is caught, children are not safe. He is hanging around places where they play and he is very bold and confident. He does not seem to care about the consequences.

"The shrubbery is vastly overgrown near the bridge, which is used by children going to and from school. The council should cut all the shrubbery down before something else happens.

"My daughter is a very normal nine year-old girl - she is very bright but not streetwise. She has had her good days and bad days since this happened."

Her daughter was attacked at about 7pm on Monday, October 1, next to the footbridge on Parsonage Road, alongside the thick shrubbery. A few hours earlier a man indecently exposed himself to a 12 year-old girl. He later performed an indecent act in front of a 13 year-old girl and a 10 year-old boy, on Victoria Road, Urmston. There have since been other incidents as he has continued to target school children.

Police described the man as white, 30 to 45 years-old, five feet eight inches tall, with a slim build and scruffy appearance. He has short dark hair, which may be thinning on top and wears a black/dark anorak-type top or black three quarter length leather coat, dark jeans and sometimes a green and yellow hat and sunglasses. Detectives say he has a gentle Scottish accent.

Geoff Marsh, the head of environmental services at Trafford Council, said: "I have visited the site and can appreciate the problem and we will be doing some work to remove the hazard. We will clear back self-seeded trees and bushes on the footpath to remove the potential for people to hide in there."

Det Sgt Dave Callan says: "We are treating these incidents very seriously and there is an on-going operation to try and trace and arrest this person."

He adds of the man confronted by the mum: "We want to question this man to eliminate him from our enquiries."

Anyone with information should call Stretford police on 856 7669 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.