Two four-year-old girls were approached by a stranger and asked to go away with him in Catrine on Monday.

Mika Brennan and her friend were playing in the playpark near Riverside Crescent just before midday when a man, said to be in his 20s, approached them and offered them the use of his phone and money for sweeties if they followed him to the shop.

Fortunately, Mika’s friend’s grandmother was watching the youngsters and when she called them over, the man, who was wearing a black hoodie, light coloured baseball cap and a face mask, ran off in the direction of the main road.

Mark Brennan, Mika’s father was extremely concerned by the situation, saying: “The thoughts about what could have happened are driving me insane. Only he knows what his intentions were for my daughter. The sheer thought of what could have happened is too much right now.

“The streets are so unsafe right now and that’s so unacceptable in this day and age, especially with everything else that’s going on.

“I would like to see him behind bars. It’s a good thing I wasn’t there because I would do anything for my daughter, I’d have murdered the guy, my conscience would have been clean too.”

It comes after reports of a young boy being accosted near a building site in the village on Sunday by three men, one of whom was wearing a gold Guy Fawkes mask, who hoisted the boy in the air and chucked him into a pile of mud. It is not clear if the two incidents are connected.

Mark added: “Myself and Claire will not be letting Mika out anytime soon, it’s just too unsafe right now.

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “We received a report of a man approaching a child at a park off Riverside Crescent in Catrine around 11.50am on Monday, September 21.

“No physical contact was made and no further reports have been made to police.

“Enquiries are ongoing to establish the full circumstances.”