Pervert ‘tried to buy baby for an hour’ in inner city’s legal red-light zone

A pervert tried to have a baby handed over to him in Britain’s first official red-light district, locals have revealed.

The man asked a grandmother to let him have an ‘hour alone’ with her four-month-old grandson as she pushed him down the road in his buggy.

It is the latest and most shocking example of children targeted by strangers in and around the ‘managed zone’ in Holbeck, Leeds, where kerb crawlers can pick up prostitutes without fear of arrest.

What began as a pioneering scheme by a Left-wing council to improve the safety of sex workers has blighted the entire neighbourhood.

Now a residents’ group wants the scheme, which has been running for four years, scrapped. 

Councillors will discuss the future of the ‘legalised’ red-light district at a meeting tomorrow.

Discarded condoms and syringes are said to be everywhere in Holbeck, pictured above. Pupils walking to and from school are taking detours to avoid the area for fear of being propositioned [File photo]

Incidents involving children, compiled by the Save Our Eyes campaign group, include:

• A girl of ten out with her grandmother, who was asked ‘how much for her?’ and offered £10;
• A 13-year-old girl waiting at a bus stop with her mother on a Saturday morning was asked ‘are you working?’ by a man looking to hire a prostitute and;
• A 12-year-old reported seeing a screaming woman being raped against a wall at 4pm.

Pupils walking to and from school are taking detours to avoid the area for fear of being propositioned. 

Discarded condoms and syringes are said to be everywhere.

Adults have had similar problems as they run the gauntlet of punters, prostitutes and drug dealers. 

Police no longer issue cautions or make arrests between 8pm and 6am for loitering, soliciting or kerb-crawling offences.

The rules apply to a specific managed zone in Holbeck – predominantly used by light industry, retail and small businesses – but the problem has spread to surrounding residential streets.

Three weeks ago, a 47-year-old woman was walking home along a main road at 6pm with her four-month-old grandson in a buggy when a man in a car beeped his horn, pulled up alongside and asked her ‘how old is it?’

The woman continued walking and he added: ‘Give me an hour with it and I will bring it back.’ 

Shocked, she knocked on the door of the baby’s other grandmother. 

The other grandparent said: ‘She was upset by what happened and we called the police. I think it’s disgusting. 

The man asked a grandmother to let him have an ‘hour alone’ with her four-month-old grandson in Holbeck, Leeds, pictured above, as she pushed him down the road in his buggy. Police have not got back to her [File photo]

‘We wanted the police to come straight out and find the man but they didn’t and … haven’t rung her back.’

A spokesman for Save Our Eyes said there were three ‘attempted murders’ of sex workers this summer, adding: ‘We call on all councillors to oppose the managed approach, or be willing to move to Holbeck and live among the filth, fear and chaos.’

Debra Coupar, a Leeds councillor, said the scheme was under ‘continuous review’.