by Thom Morris

Two teenage girls have spoken of their terror at being chased by a man, thought by police to have indecently exposed himself to people on three occasions.

The 13 and 14-year-olds were subjected to the frightening ordeal last Thursday.

The Towers School pupils were chased through an alleyway and along dark streets to their homes in the Stanhope area.

Now afraid to leave their homes, one of them said: "We'd been round our friend's house and we were down by Flaxpond Road, when we went through this little alleyway and my friend said there was a man behind us.

"I said 'shut up' because I thought she was trying to scare me but she could see this third shadow. He was just standing there peering through these railings staring at us and then he started whistling. We thought it was someone we knew at first."

She added: "We started walking a bit faster but he was still behind us so then we started running. He started running too. We didn't look back after that - we just kept running and running."

In a chase that lasted for about five minutes, the girls managed to stay ahead of the man, who is described as skinny and in his mid-20s. He was wearing a grey hooded top with grey tracksuit bottoms and a blue baseball cap. His skin was also said to be tanned.

The girls added: "We'd always been told to go to a house, any house, and knock for help, but all we could think of was going home. We've never run so fast in our lives."

The 13-year-old girl's mother couldn't believe it had happened when they arrived home, extremely upset.

She said: "I rang the police as soon as they got in. I couldn't believe what they'd said and then I remembered about the other incidents I'd read about in the Kentish Express.

"I think it’s disgusting and really worrying that there's someone out there like this."

Their ordeal followed last week's police appeal for information after a man exposed himself to two young girls and attempted to kiss a third in the same area.

One incident happened on October 31 when a man pulled his trousers down in front of an 11-year-old girl walking to school at about 8am in Tennyson Road.

On Friday, October 28, between 7pm and 9pm, a 13-year-old girl reported a man tried to stop her leaving the Limes play area in Kingsnorth by dropping his trousers.

The girl believed he was the same man she saw trying to grab and kiss her 15-year-old friend outside the Bungalow Stores in Kingsnorth Road on Wednesday, October 26, between 9.30pm and 10pm.

Anyone with information should contact PC Nicky Sproson at Kent Police on 01303 289435.