A heroic dad leapt into action and punched a hooded man who tried to grab his pram containing his six-month-old son.
Kyle Howard was walking back from his mum's to his home in Allerton, Liverpool with his six-month old son Theo when a man in dark clothing approached and told him: "Give me the pram."
The former soldier's fatherly instincts kicked in and he punched the brazen would-be thief on the cheek, knocking him to the ground.
"He had been in my sights for around 10 seconds, then he said "give me the pram"," Kyle explained to the Liverpool ECHO.
"As I went 'no' he has placed his left hand on the pram.
"I struck him on the left side of his cheek and he fell back, but as he fell onto the floor he was able to hold himself up with his arm. He got up and just ran away.
"At that point my only thoughts were about the baby, and checking he was okay.
"If I was not with Theo I would have chased him, but he ran off in the direction of Montague Road."
The incident happened near to Mill Lane, Old Swan, between the junctions with Montague Road and St Oswalds Street, near the Big Yellow Storage centre.
Kyle, who manages Planet Vegan Diner and Veggie Republic in Liverpool City Centre described the man as wearing a scuffed white Reebok Classics trainers, dark jogging type pants and a black coat with a good.
He reported the short but scary moment to the police but didn't catch a good look at the offender's face.
He described what he did see as a white man with grey stubble, possibly in his 40s, who spoke with a Scouse accent.
"I am trying to play it down, I don't think he wanted the baby," Kyle said.
"He said 'give me the pram' and prams are expensive, so maybe he was looking for a quick score. But anyone who sees a pram with the hood up would think there was a baby inside.
"I don't like violence, I was in the army when I was younger and I was trained to fight but I have never been involved with anything like this before.
"Afterwards my adrenaline was quite spiked, so when the police were asking me questions I was not really making sense, I just wanted to get the baby home.
"It is scary, it feels like if it happened to me it could happen to anyone."
The shaken dad took to Facebook, posting a picture of his swollen knuckles alongside the post, to warn others to be vigilant.
He wrote: "A stark reminder of the horrors out there. At 17:25 I was approached by a man (I say this loosely ) as I was walking Theo home he asked me for the pram, I replied no and he put his hand on the pram handle to which I’ve balled my fist up and connected with his chin, he’s gone down and ran off.
"I’ve filed a police report etc … but please be careful, some actual horrible people out there, disgusting vile creature. They’ve got cctv footage so hopefully he will be found and dealt with. Just as well me or my family didn’t get to him first."
Merseyside Police said extensive enquiries were ongoing including checking for potential CCTV footage in the area. The force also described the suspect as having blond curly hair and being around 6ft tall.
Detective Inspector Neil Dillon said: "This incident is every parent’s worst nightmare, and our extensive enquiries are ongoing. If you were in the Edge Lane area, near to the junction with Mill Lane yesterday evening and saw anything or anyone suspicious, or the man described then please come forward.
"Similarly if you were driving down Edge Lane and have dashcam footage then please review it and let us know if you see anything. Information you hold could be vital to our enquiries.
"I’d also like to reassure the community, who will be understandably worried, that we take any reports of this nature extremely seriously. We’ll act on all information provided to find the person responsible.”
Anyone who witnessed the incident or who has any information is asked to contact @MerPolCC on Twitter or ‘Merseyside Police Contact Centre’ on Facebook or call 101 with reference 22000376600.
You can also call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
