See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy NOOR QURASHI, NEWS REPORTER Published: 11:38 BST, 22 May 2026 | Updated: 12:05 BST, 22 May 2026
A man has been charged with kidnapping a teenage girl after she was 'snatched off the street and held at knifepoint' in a Manchester suburb.Paul Sharpe, 56, has also been charged with a string of sex offences.Police were called to the Altrincham area of Trafford on Monday evening following reports a 15-year-old girl had been abducted.She was reported missing within two hours and was eventually found in a hotel car park in Knutsford, Cheshire, in the early hours of Tuesday. Sharpe, of Stockport, has been charged with kidnap with intent to commit a sexual offence, sexual assault, attempted sexual assault and engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child.He has also been charged with threats with a bladed article and administering a substance with intent.He is due to appear before Manchester Magistrates' Court on Friday.Detective Chief Inspector Justin Bryant, of the Criminal Investigation Department in Trafford, said: 'Officers are continuing to work tirelessly on this investigation to establish the full circumstances surrounding the incident.' A teenage girl was allegedly bundled into a vehicle in a 'random' suspected abduction on Bradgate Road (file image)The force added the girl and her parents were working with specialist officers who are 'trying to build a full picture of the alleged incident'. Mr Bryant said: 'We would like to reassure the public that there is no wider risk to the community in connection with this matter.'Detectives spoke to residents on a tree-lined street in Bowdon, Altrincham on Wednesday to try and find CCTV of the kidnapping.One homeowner said: 'Police in plain clothes with badges around their necks came knocking. They were asking for CCTV footage but most people don't cover the road. 'It's really scary that a girl was taken here. She must have been terrified.'Dog walker Mike Owen, 54, said: 'It's a real shock that it's happened here.'But you get a lot of vans driving up and down the street working on some of the big houses round here.'And people also walk their dogs a lot round here as there are parks and woods.'I thought it sounded like a kidnapping for ransom when I first heard about it.'The area where the girl was snatched is a highly sought after suburb on the edge of Manchester which has been a home to footballers such as Marcus Rashford and Harry Maguire.The alleged kidnapping took place on Bradgate Road, just minutes away from the salubrious Dunham Country Club.It is understood the incident is being treated as random and that the teenager was not known to the suspect.
