A DAD has spoken about the terror his young daughter faced when a man threatened to rape her on a Barrow street.

The concerned father claimed that his 24-year-old daughter was approached by a man on the corner of Allison Street and Crellin Street on Wednesday night, at around 11.35pm.

He said: “My daughter was coming back from the takeaway and this chap just came out of nowhere, tried to get hold of her and said 'I know where you live and I’m going to follow you home and rape you'.

“It shook her a lot, it is preventing her from going out, she doesn’t feel safe.”

The father, who The Mail has agreed not to name, said that it was 'frightening' to think about the safety of young people in the town.

He said: “Young women should be able to go out wherever they want without expecting to be accosted by some weirdo – weirdo might not be the quite word because these guys are quite calculated in what they do.

“It’s frightening to think that a place like Barrow has become somewhere that young people and women don’t feel safe.

“As a father you feel useless because there is nothing that you can do. The police came out on the evening and have spoken to her and reassured her that they will do whatever they can.”

The dad said that the man was wearing a face mask, making it hard to see any defining features.

He said: “When you are in the street at night and someone has a mask on you wouldn’t bat an eyelid, you’d think that they were just being over precautious.

“She is very frightened, if we can make people aware that this is happening then it could prevent something more serious happening.

“It’s quite a brave thing for any woman or bloke to phone the police and report it and deal with the aftermath.

“This is happening to women throughout the country and it shouldn’t be something you have to worry about.”

Barrow and Furness MP Simon Fell applauded the young woman for calling the police.

He said: “This is shocking and awful. The young lady did absolutely the right thing by reporting this to the police.

“I’d ask that if anyone lives locally and saw anything they come forward with information and help get this hideous individual caught."

Cumbria Police were contacted but were unable to comment