A mother successfully fought off a man and a woman who tried to snatch her baby from a pram as she crossed a road near Wigan last night.

The couple were unable to prize the four-month-old baby from the pram that she was strapped into. The man fled the scene quickly, but the woman was more persistent – trying to grab the baby until the terrified mother punched her in the face.

The woman, described as white and around 40 years old, shouted: “Get the baby, get the baby,” during the attempted abduction on Wigan Road in Leigh, at about 8pm yesterday.

The mother, 30, and her child were unharmed but traumatised by the attack, which came 101 days after the abduction of Madeleine McCann, 4, from her hotel room in Portugal.

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“Thankfully the mother had strapped her baby into the pram and had the wherewithal to fight off the would-be abductors,” said Detective Sergeant Graham Rigby, of Wigan CID.

“She put up a determined fight against the couple and managed to fend them off, but she was left understandably horrified by what happened. We need to catch these people before they put another mother through a similar ordeal.”

The mother, who lives in Leigh, was pushing the pram across a pelican crossing when she was attacked by the woman and a man, also described as white and in his 40s.

The police have appealed for any witnesses to come forward. The man is about 5ft 7in, in his 40s with a muscular build and very short black hair. He was wearing black trainers, black jeans and a black leather jacket which covered most of his face.

The woman was wearing black trainers, dark green combat trousers and a black jacket. Both offenders were wearing black knitted gloves during the attempted abduction.

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