Woman, 42, calls for police protection after she was chased by three men

A 42-YEAR old woman has spoken of her fear walking to work after she was chased by three men in Huntingdon.

Irene Dandawa, a cleaner at Huntingdonshire Regional College and committee member for the annual Unity in the Community day, said she was left terrified by the ordeal as she made her way to an early-morning shift.

The mother of three had passed Thongsley Field Primary School and was walking through an alley towards California Road at about 4.45am when she heard three men following her and shouting at her in a foreign language. She said: “I increased my pace and they increased theirs. I started running and they came after me.

“There was a car coming in my direction. I shouted ‘Police help! Police help!” and the men stopped chasing me.”

She contacted police about the December 1 incident and an officer visited her at home, but Miss Dandawa fears she may be targeted again.

She said: “It was terrifying. I am very worried. I have bought a yellow jacket and a torch, and an alarm.”

Half-an-hour before Miss Dandawa was chased, a man was attacked by 10 youths in Beech Close. Police are not linking the incidents because those involved were thought to be English.

Miss Dandawa has learned a caretaker at the college was also followed by a group of men when walking to work, and called for police to step up their patrols of the area.

Insp Ian Ford said: “An area search was made at the time. It was logged as a suspicious �incident.

“An officer spoke to the victim, and the victim was happy with the actions taken at the time.”

A college spokesman said: “We have been made aware of occasions when cleaning staff have been harassed on their way to work in the early hours.

“The college takes situations like these extremely seriously and is liaising with police to address the circumstances and reassure the staff.”