Police enquiries ongoing following Preston teenage girls' abduction claims

Earlier today (Thursday, June 20) the Post reported that the parents of two 15-year-old girls, Shona Mannion and Chloe Sandham, were demanding a police investigation into what happened to their daughters last Sunday.

The girls were in a group of teenagers in the area near Preston’s former B&Q store, off North Road, on Sunday afternoon when they say they were chased by a group of men in cars after a vehicle was damaged nearby.

Two other girls got away, but the pair were caught and say that, even though they strenuously denied committing the damage, they were subjected to a frightening attack in which they were dragged down a flight of steps and thrown into the boot of a black Mercedes.

Rumours of the incident spread on social media with police saying on Monday (June 17) "these rumours are false".

After that Shona's mum Louise said "we started getting a lot of grief from people who thought we had all made it up. We were being called Shannon Matthews’ family".

Later that evening a police spokesman said that a person had in fact held two girls in a car while they were waiting for police to arrive after making a report of criminal damage and children causing a nuisance to an empty business on Southgate.

This afternoon a spokesman from Lancashire Police confirmed that while "enquiries are ongoing into the matter", no investigation into the incident has been launched.

The Post understands officers have been in touch with the family of the two girls to clarify the chain of events.