THE mother of an 11-year-old girl who narrowly escaped abduction has appealed for help to find her attacker.

The girl was grabbed from behind as she walked along an alleyway at the back of Cross Street in Old Town on Sunday.

She managed to escape the man's grasp and ran away to raise the alarm.

Her mother, who asked to be known only as Amanda, said she felt a "pain in the pit of my stomach" when her daughter told her what had happened.

Police have not ruled out a link between this attack and the attempted abduction of a five-year-old girl in Groundwell Road a month ago.

In that case the girl also managed to run away.

In both instances the man is described as white, in his early 20s and with a slim build.

In the case of the attack on Sunday the man was described as 5ft 8in tall with short blond hair.

But in the case of Groundwell incident his height was given as 5ft 5in with close-shaven black hair.

Both attacks happened at 1.30pm in the afternoon.

Detective Constable Bob Mart, from Swindon Police, said: "There are clear similarities in both cases but at this time there is nothing evidentially to link them. It is not something which we can rule out."

Anyone with information on either of these attacks can contact Swindon Police on 528111.