Derby Shopping Centre Incident: Update

9 May 2014, 06:22 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

A man who approached a toddler in a Derby shopping centre yesterday thought the child had lost his mum and took him by the hand to try and reunite them.

A shopper contacted police after a man appeared to walk away with the 21-month-old boy outside Boots at about 10.30am.

CCTV of what happened at the Intu Complex was then released by Derbyshire Police overnight.

As a result of the footage, an 80-year-old man contacted police this morning, believing it was him in the CCTV.

'The gentleman was acting with good intentions'

The man has been interviewed and detectives are satisfied that he was acting with good intentions. No further action will be taken.

Detective Chief Inspector Nick Lamb said:

'We are very grateful to the response from the public and to the man who contacted us and was later interviewed.

'The gentleman was acting with good intentions, believing that the young boy had become separated from his mother.

'The man was a little confused and thought the child’s mother was somebody else, and had tried to do a good deed in reuniting them.'