Girl, 11, assaulted after school by man in Barnstaple
An 11-year-old girl has been assaulted by a man in Barnstaple, Devon, on her way home from school.
The girl was grabbed around her neck and pushed against a wall in Richmond Terrace on Thursday at about 16:15 GMT, Devon and Cornwall Police said.
The man fled the scene in a white van. A police spokesman said the girl, who was not injured, did not know the man.
He added that despite postings on social media sites it was not being treated as an attempted abduction.
The man was described as white, aged between 30 and 35 with wavy blonde hair.
Police are appealing for witnesses to come forward.