Manchester Evening News
September 9, 2014
A Good Samaritan has told how she saved a woman jogger from a would-be rapist who struck in broad daylight.
Five-foot two-inch Erin Whiteside, 22, repeatedly kicked the scar-faced attacker as he pinned the 30-year-old victim to the ground in Clayton Vale Park, Clayton.
The man, described, by police as ‘dangerous’, fled on his bicycle after Erin booted him in the side three times and told him to stop. Erin, a Manchester sandwich shop worker, was in the park doing her other job for a dog walking firm when she sprang into action.
Erin said: “I walk there quite often because one of the dogs I walk lives nearby. I was with four dogs and then heard someone screaming. It was loud, she was screaming ‘get off me, get off me’.
“Initially I didn’t run towards her because I thought it was kids messing about or something.
“Then I heard a man, who was also jogging, shout ‘the police are coming’. So I realised it was something serious.
“I walked round the corner and saw this man attacking a woman. I shouted at him to get him away from her, but he didn’t react at all.
“Eventually, I started kicking him in the side, and in the end he got off her. I think I kicked him three times at least. He never said a word.