Reading Crown Court: Would-be child snatcher from Newbury told to surrender passport

A MAN who tried to snatch a terrified schoolgirl off the street has been told to surrender his passport before he is sentenced.

A Reading Crown Court judge made the order before releasing Omar Okieve Brown on conditional bail after he was convicted on Wednesday, September 21, of attempted child abduction.

Newburytoday.co.uk delayed reporting the verdict to comply with a postponement order issued by Judge Paul Dugdale in case the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) ordered a retrial on an alternative charge of attempted kidnap, on which the jury could not agree.

The order is now lifted after the CPS revealed on Tuesday, October 4, that there are no plans for a retrial on that charge and Brown will be sentenced for the attempted child abduction next month.

The 40-year-old father of five, of Oxford Road, Newbury, had protested his innocence, claiming he had merely been a Good Samaritan trying to save the child from predatory drug dealers.

But it was all lies, the jury found.

When giving evidence under oath, he repeatedly contradicted his earlier defence statements.

The 15-year-old told the jury how the man grabbed her with both hands and tried to bundle her into his waiting gold Mercedes.

The schoolgirl had been waiting in the gathering dusk for a bus in Purley when Brown’s car drew up shortly after 8.45pm and he got out.

Brown had denied attempted kidnap in Purley at 8.45pm on August 7, 2020.

He has previous convictions for causing criminal damage, drug-driving and drink-driving.

Jurors were shown a photograph taken by the girl’s mother which showed a red mark on her arm.

From the witness box, Brown complained that press reports of his being charged had caused him to have to leave his job.

He claimed: "I was working as a bin man but people started calling me names at work after it came out in the paper."

A witness, Daniel Wood, heard the frightened girl telling Brown "my bus is coming soon".

Under cross examination by Denis Barry, prosecuting, Brown accepted that – despite his assertion he only wanted to give her fatherly advice about safety – he had found her attractive and conceded: “I told her she was beautiful and stuff like that.”

He also claimed he had seen her consorting with drug dealers – a claim the girl denied – and, ironically, wanted to warn her about talking to strangers.

Judge Paul Dugdale, explaining one thrust of the prosecution cross examination, asked Brown: "Do you think it’s appropriate and okay for you to get out of a car and start chatting up a girl... at a bus stop?"

Brown replied: "Yes, I thought it was okay."

Brown was granted conditional bail after Judge Dugdale ordered pre-sentence reports.

He was meanwhile ordered to surrender his passport.