A SIX-YEAR-OLD Eastleigh girl diverted police away from an investigation into an indecent assault last night by falsely claiming she had been dragged into a car.

The youngster cried wolf, forcing the police to launch an inquiry into her claims following a call from her mother at 6.45pm saying the girl was the victim of an alleged abduction.

Officers had been investigating a genuine sexual attack which took place in Chandler's Ford at 3pm.

The girl had come home and complained that she had been dragged into a blue car in the Twyford Road area by a man.

She claimed that she escaped when the engine of the car would not start. She even supplied a description of both the alleged kidnapper and the car.

It turned out that the girl told a pack of lies and it took a woman police officer, gently coaxing information out of the alleged victim, about two hours to extract the truth.

Meanwhile Eastleigh police, who were already dealing with inquires into an indecent assault on a woman at Chandler's Ford, had launched a full-scale investigation, including door-to-door inquiries.

An Eastleigh police spokesman said about 15 police officers were involved in the probe into the alleged abduction.

He said: "A dog section came in from another division and area car from another area.

"Door-to-door inquires were carried out in the area and we want to assure all those people that we called on that this turned out to be a false allegation.

"When you get a report like this concerning a six-year-old girl you have to treat it very seriously.

"But we have few enough officers without dealing with something which is bogus. This tied up our already stretched resources on what was a very busy night."

He said the mother of the little girl who made the false accusation was very cross with her daughter. Action will not be taken for wasting police time because the complainant was not an adult.

But the police spokesman said the lengthy inquiries into the alleged abduction had diverted them away from investigating an indecent assault on a woman who was pushing a pram at Skyswood Road, Chandler's Ford, at 3pm yesterday.

The hunt is continuing for a 15-year-old skinny white youth, who was wearing a grey hooded top and sandy coloured shorts and riding an old orange bicycle.