Police again urging people to be cautious after man exposes himself to teenage girls in Witham
Officers are now linking a number of incidents of indecent exposure
Essex Police is again urging people to be cautious, after a man exposed himself to four young teenage girls near to a nature reserve in Witham.
It is one of a number of incidents of indecent exposure since 15 February, which officers are now treating as linked.
This incident happened at around 3.45pm yesterday (31 March), as the girls were walking down Blackwater Lane towards Whetmead Nature Reserve.
They became aware of the man who was facing away from them.
He then turned and looked at them over his shoulder before crossing over Blackwater Lane in front of the girls and exposing himself.
The victims ran away from the man.
He ran off towards Maldon Road in the direction of Saul’s Bridge Close and was last seen at the junction of these two roads.
The man is described as white, roughly between 5ft 7ins and 5ft 8ins tall, of slim build, with dark wavy or slightly curly hair which was greasy.
He was wearing a black long-sleeved top which may have had a hood and possibly had a white logo on the front chest area.
He was also wearing dark coloured jogging bottoms and trainers.
Essex Police is appealing for information from anyone who was in the area at the time who may have seen a man matching the description prior to, and after the exposure.
DC Deb Forsythe, of Braintree CID, said:
"We believe that the man exposing himself must live close to the area as he clearly has local knowledge given the routes he uses and disappears a short time after the events.
"We believe the key to finding and arresting this individual lies with the public and would ask anyone who has any knowledge as to who this person is, to contact police as a matter of urgency.
"We understand these incidents will be concerning for our community and we are treating them very seriously.
"We have high visibility patrols taking place in the area but we would urge members of the public to vigilant and we would ask parents not to allow their children to go to the area alone."
Anyone with information which they believe will help the investigation is asked to call 101 quoting incident 904 of 31 March.
Officers have also released an efit of a man they want to speak to in connection with two incidents linked to yesterday's incident.
They took place on 10 March and 12 March.
At around 4pm on 10 March, three girls reported walking in a green area just off Laurence Avenue, between Maldon Road and Pattison Close, when a man exposed himself.
The man in that incident is described as white, slim, approximately 20 years old with medium-length dark brown hair.
He was wearing a blue jacket, grey trousers, and brown shoes.
Two days later, a woman in her 30s was walking her dog in the Maldon Road area at around 10am when she reported a man exposing himself.
Anyone with information is asked to call Essex Police on 101 quoting crime reference number 42/44328/21 or cite incident 1046 of 22 March.