Man jailed for over three years for an attempted abduction of a child in a supermarket in Rochdale

Sergejus Paskevicius (13/08/1962) of Orchard Street, Heywood was on Friday 15 September 2023 sentenced to three years and two months at Minshull Street Crown Court for the offence of taking a child, removing them from a person of lawful control.

This was after Greater Manchester Police were called to reports of an attempted abduction of a child at around 6pm on Bradshaw Street in Heywood back on Saturday 23 July 2022.

An immediate investigation was launched by officers where the now 61-year-old was subsequently arrested and charged for kidnap after CCTV footage showed the incident in full.

Paskevicius took it upon himself to act in a shocking manner, with the parent seemingly on a routine shopping trip with their two children at Aldi in Heywood.

Whilst queuing to pay, Paskevicius was in front being served when after he paid he went over to the large shelf of the shop’s front window to pack his bag. This where the mother has eventually walked with her children and asked them to stay before walking back to the till.

Turning every few seconds to check, she saw Paskevicius talking to them and a few seconds later saw him with his bag on his shoulder and her youngest, only a few years old, held up by him to his chest. The terrifying ordeal was made even worse with the eldest child trying to pull his brother out of Paskevicius’ arms.

Towards the front of the shop, the eldest child managed to carry his brother back towards the mother in a look of shock and confusion with Paskevicius walking out of the shop pretending to act like nothing happened.

He was later identified from an appeal on social media where he was arrested on suspicion of kidnap after information placed him at a certain time and area.

A search of his house found clothing that matched what he was wearing on that afternoon the attempted abduction happened.

Detective Sergeant Andrew Whitehill of GMP’s Rochdale district said; “Paskevicius was a danger to society for his shocking actions but thankfully his intentions didn’t result in anything more serious than a sinister move to abduct a child from their parent.

“It is arguably every parent’s worst nightmare and thanks to the quick actions of everyone involved, including the local public, we were able to arrest the person responsible.

“He will spend further time behind bars now to reflect on his actions and as officers we will always treat this type of incident with the attention and seriousness it deserves.

“I would like to reassure the community that we have dedicated neighbourhood officers and subsequent patrols that do cover the Heywood area and I would urge members to speak to them direct if they have any concerns going forwards, this can be done direct through’s the force’s community messaging system Bee In The Loop.”