Wrose family ask Good Samaritan who walked son home to come forward (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Wrose family ask Good Samaritan who walked son home to come forward

7:00am Monday 11th March 2013 in News By Julie Tickner, T&A Reporter

A family is appealing for the “angel” who walked their son more than three miles home when he got lost following madrassa class to contact them for a reward.

Parents Arfan and Afshan Sheikh say the mystery man “gave them their life back” when he returned Taha to his Shipley home.

Taha, seven, was waiting for his mother after his class at the Markazi Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith Mosque, off Manningham Lane, when he got lost trying to find her, at about 6.30pm on Tuesday.

It was only his second day at the religious class and Mrs Sheikh was ten minutes late due to the traffic.

When she arrived her son was nowhere to be found. The classroom door was shut and the lights out.

Taha is afraid of the dark and gets sick and chokes when he is scared.

Panicked, the 30-year-old called her mother-in-law who left her sick husband to help search.

“I thought somebody might have taken him away. I didn’t know he had walked away on his own,” she said.

Mr Sheikh cut short his bus driving shift after a phone call with his sobbing mother.

“I just brought the bus back to Bradford. I just couldn’t concentrate. I asked the passengers if they would mind getting off the bus and catching the next one,” he said.

The police were called and the family were out searching when Mr Sheikh received a call from a neighbour who told him the Poplars Farm Primary School pupil had been taken home at about 8.15pm.

Taha said he was trying to find his way home when the “kind” man approached him. The man, thought to be about 18, could see the boy was scared, calmed him, gave him some juice and walked him home.

Mr Sheikh, 38, said: “If Taha couldn’t have told the man his address, he might not have made it home.

“The young gentleman left without a chance for us to thank him. In this day and age where crime is high we are so so lucky to have our son back safe and sound.”

Mrs Sheikh added: “The man was an angel for us. He got our kid back home and he brought our life back.”

The man was Asian, thin and had black spiky hair. He was wearing black shoes and jacket, tracksuit bottoms and a hat.

Mr Sheikh said: “Please come forward – those two hours were the longest of our lives. We have all been deeply affected by this incident. Please, please give us a chance to thank you. You are the real-life hero.”

Mr Sheikh said the man could go to the family home, outside of school hours, at Brookwater Drive, Wrose, or the family can be contacted on (01274) 581884 or 07811 127078.

A spokesman for the mosque in Lumb Lane, Bradford, said Taha’s madrassa teacher thought the child had left with his mother. He said teachers normally stayed with pupils, but Taha had walked away when the teacher was not looking.