A four-year-old boy sparked a police hunt in Bradford city centre after going missing while shopping with his mother.

She raised the alarm after he vanished while they were in Thornton's chocolate shop at about 12.24pm yesterday.

The frantic mother was joined by ten police officers as they scoured surrounding shops in a hunt for the youngster, amid fears he may have been taken.

But after an agonising 25 minutes the little blond tot was found happy and smiling in the nearby Early Learning Centre playing with toys.

It is believed he had crossed busy Market Street on his own to get to the toy shop.

One eyewitness, who did not want to be named, said: The woman was crying her eyes out standing next to an empty pram and there were police everywhere."

Early Learning Centre shop assistant Sheila Brennan, 36, first spotted the tot on his own in the Market Street store.

She said: "He was just playing with all the toys, especially Bob the Builder. He even came up playing on the till. He wasn't upset or anything.

"I asked all the customers if he was with them and when he wasn't I shut the doors."

She sent another assistant to tell one of the police patrols outside that the youngster was playing happily in the store and they brought the mum to the shop to be reunited.

Sheila Brennan added: "His mum was in a real state, all red-faced through crying. I once lost my two-year-old at a market and I know what she was going through.

"Your stomach goes and there is no worse feeling. I am just glad he was found."

A police spokesman said: "The boy was with his mother and wandered off. He was found just before 1pm and they went home together."