Two women have rescued a child from an attempted kidnapping on the streets of London after the man, who has since been arrested for alleged rape, was spotted behaving suspiciously with a young girl in tow.
Video taken by one of the women has gone viral on social media, the harrowing footage capturing their pursuit of the alleged paedophile.
The woman can be heard confronting the offender, who is seen standing in a shadowy corner of an alleyway with the child.
"Let her go, what are you doing with her?" she confronts him. "Is that the same one that just walked past us, mum?"
The man protests, saying the girl is his little sister.
"So what are you doing in the corner with her?" the woman persists, following him out of the alleyway.
The footage shows the man, dressed in a grey sweatshirt with the hood up, guiding the child away with his arm around her shoulders. The woman calls out to her, asking if she's okay.
When the woman catches up, the man briefly confronts her - before quickly scarpering.
"Are you okay? Do you know him?" she asks the young girl, who - clearly distraught - cries that she was "just trying to go to school".
A social media post from a relative, shared to a forum on Reddit, said their younger sister had initially spotted the man with his hands over the young girl's mouth.
"At 7:05am this morning, my little sister witnessed a man abducting a young girl whilst on her way to school. She noticed the man had his hands over her mouth whilst walking down Pitcairn Road (Mitcham) and was behaving in a strange manner," the person wrote, according to the screenshot.
"She called and alerted my mum and sister, who called the police and left our house to attempt to find him. When they found him at North Place... he had put his coat on her and made her perform sexual acts on him."
London's Metropolitan Police has since confirmed the man, identified as 26-year-old Kadian Nelson, has been arrested.
"Police have this evening arrested a 26-year-old man on suspicion of rape... following a call from a member of the public," said the statement. "He is now in police custody.
"The victim and her family have been informed. They continue to be supported by specially trained officers.
"Officers from the South West Command Unit have been conducting extensive enquiries today to locate the man after an allegation of rape was received shortly after [7am] to the North Place area on Tuesday, 3 November."
Comments on the footage, uploaded to Reddit, claim a number of locals had gathered outside Nelson's home after members of the community recognised him from the woman's video.
"People found out his address and many turned up looking for him, surprisingly most who went seemed to be affiliated with gangs," one commented.
"Some guys showed up at his address. There are some rumours that he's been shot and some others saying he's been arrested," said another.
Video posted to Twitter appears to show men gathered outside the man's address, with one user tweeting: "[There were] about 20 to 30 people that went to his place in Mitcham, literally a scumbag". The claims allege that police were already present and that rival gangs had "put aside their differences" to confront the alleged paedophile.
In the statement, the Met Police warned the public to "be mindful" of sharing information via social media that could affect any potential future proceedings, or identify the alleged victim.
