Police arrive six days late

A LANCING nursery school owner has complained to the police after they failed to respond for nearly a week to a suspicious man spotted hanging around her nursery.

Tracey Clarke, owner of Noah s Ark, at Lancing Manor Park, Manor Road, has written to Inspector Jacqui White, of Lancing police, after three 999 calls were made about the suspicious man, with no response from officers.

Mrs Clarke said her staff had called 999 last Wednesday afternoon, after a man was seen sitting on the 7ft high wall that surrounds the nursery and was still lurking around an hour later.

Mrs Clarke said: "As an establishment caring for young children, we were naturally very worried that someone should be hanging around for such a length of time for no apparent reason.

"My staff obviously did not know if this man was simply someone harmless, an estr-anged father of one of our children or even a paedophile.

"We have a duty of care that we take very seriously, which is why we called the police for assistance."

Acting nursery manager Zoe Thomson said: "If they had come up on the Wednesday, they would have seen him straight away, because he was still around."

Two more calls were made the following day by staff from nearby Lancing Manor Leisure Centre after the man was seen again.

For police reaction and more on this story, see the Lancing Herald, November 8.