ALCESTER housewife Alice Hoskins had an unwelcome encounter as she walked home on Sunday evening - a semi-naked man leapt out in front of her.

He asked her for a safety pin because his trousers were ripped but when 53-year-old Mrs Hoskins looked at him he had nothing on from the waist down, not even shoes. All he was wearing was a white T-shirt.

Shocked and bewildered, Mrs Hoskins continued along Crooks Lane to her home but when the man started to follow her she ran towards the nearest house.

"Fortunately there was a young man coming towards me and I asked him to get the number of the car.

"The other man had got into his car by then and was driving off with the boot flying open," she said.

Alcester police are asking for anyone who was in the area at the time of the incident, which happened by the laundrette in Crooks Lane at about 7pm to come forward.