Man snatched toddler by the NECK & ran off ‘while holding her upside down’ as terrified mum battled to stop him
A TODDLER lost her toe in a violent struggle after a man snatched her from her mum in the street and ran off while holding her upside down.
Martin Enow grabbed the 18-month-old girl from her mother in the terrifying incident on Mayor Street in Bolton, in what has been described as ‘every parent’s worst nightmare’.
The 24-year-old was “experiencing a psychotic episode at the time” on February 21 this year.
Enow grabbed the toddler by her neck and tried to run “while holding her upside down”, the Crown Prosecution Service said.
Her mum, who was with her other child, struggled with him and tried to grab her daughter back.
A passer-by intervened and restrained Enow so the mother could grab the girl, who was bleeding heavily from her foot.
Another passer-by stopped her car and ran out to help, leaving her child in the passenger seat.
Enow then jumped into the driver seat of this car but didn’t have the keys, so ran from the scene.
He climbed into the passenger seat of a taxi that had stopped at the junction of Spa Road and Mayor Street and asked the driver to take him to the football stadium, the CPS added.
But the driver refused and locked him in the car until police arrived.
The toddler lost her toe and had to have an operation on her foot as a result of the horrific incident.
She also suffered a broken arm.
Enow was subsequently charged pleaded guilty to kidnap and inflicting grievous bodily harm at an earlier hearing.
Today, he was jailed for four years.
Garry Crawford, Senior Crown Prosecutor for CPS North West, said: “This was a terrifying incident which encapsulates every parent’s worst nightmare.
“It is thanks to the quick thinking of the child’s mother, the good Samaritans and the taxi driver, that Martin Enow was stopped before any further harm could occur to either the child or himself.
“We understand that Martin Enow was suffering with a mental health condition when he committed this offence. I hope that following the conclusion of the case the child’s family will have some sense of closure and that they can now begin to put what happened behind them.”
Greater Manchester Police said no custody image of Enow, of Lawson Street, Preston, was available.