CONCERNED parents have hit out at police after they were not warned strangers approached a school child in Caversham.

Two unknown men went up to the 11-year-old girl at 3.15pm on Wednesday, with police called two hours later. Police say they do not know where she went during that time.

A stretch of Hemdean road, near Caversham Primary School, was cordoned off for nearly 24 hours but other parents say they were not warned about what happened.

One mother, whose children go to a nearby school and did not want to be named, said: "I think with a lot of rumours going round it would have been helpful to have more facts in this case.

"This would have allowed us the opportunity to take precautions we think we would have needed.

"There's a difference between the fear of crime and taking practical precautions."

Thames Valley Police officers remained on the scene until 2pm on Thursday.

The mother of the schoolgirl has defended the schools and police saying her daughter is safe and unharmed.

"Naturally we are still highly concerned about what potentially could have happened," she said.

"I saw comments about frustration with an apparent lack of information coming from schools.

"Now that I have been involved in such an incident I think they did absolutely the right thing by not informing parents until police released their information.

"Due to the increased and still ongoing police presence the risk of repetition was and is extremely low."

Thames Valley Police didn't publicly release any information until 5.29pm on Thursday, more than 24 hours after they were first called to the scene.

A spokesman said: "We have been working with schools in the area to provide information to them in connection with this incident.”

Thames Valley Police said they were continuing to support the school.

A Reading Borough Council spokesman said: "Thames Valley Police has been in contact with the Council over the incident in Caversham earlier this week.

"Their advice is that schools should follow the standard procedures that they already have in place.

"At this stage the police are not asking for any additional action to be taken by schools, other than they would normally undertake."

Police are investigating a number of sites across Reading. Anyone with information should contact police on 101 quoting reference 618 19/01/17.