Corby Asda incident '˜was not an attempt to kidnap a child'

Officers have also issued a stern warning that ciculating pictures of suspects on social media could hamper potential court cases.

We earlier reported that a woman had tried to grab the arm of a child yesterday in the store in Phoenix Parkway.

But officers say they have ‘left no stone unturned’ in their investigation, and that there was no contact between the girl and the woman accused of grabbing her.

Detective Inspector Steve Watkins, said: “We have been conducting a thorough investigation into this incident including speaking to witnesses and reviewing the CCTV footage of the aisle at the time of the alleged offence.

“Through these investigations we are now satisfied that the incident didn’t take place as first reported, that this was thankfully not a genuine attempt to kidnap a child and that no contact was made between the girl and the woman originally accused of grabbing her.

“I want to make it clear that we take allegations of this nature extremely seriously and we are leaving no stone unturned in this investigation with a 41-year-old woman due to come in for a voluntary interview this afternoon to assist detectives with their enquiries and to give more information about the circumstances of this incident.

“Finally, I would strongly advise people not to circulate photos of potential suspects on social media in connection with any incident but to report them to us directly and allow us to investigate them properly.

“In the event that a photo of a potential suspect is circulated on social media and that person is later suspected to be involved in a crime, the fact that a photo of them alongside these claims has already been in the public domain, can undermine an investigation, affect identification parades and also potentially hamper any future court case.

“Any further witnesses who saw this incident take place in Asda yesterday are still encouraged to call us on 101 and tell us what they saw. Alternatively they can call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.”