'Kerb-crawling' driver causes alarm in Crookes, Sheffield, after asking 'unsettling' questions about dog

James Prescott, 34, told how he was on his daily evening walk with his dog Booboo in Crookes on Monday night, when a dark-coloured VW golf pulled up next to him.

The driver leaned through the open window towards Mr Prescott and fired off three questions: “Is this your dog? What breed? How old is the dog?”

Mr Prescott, an artist, said: “I couldn’t see in the back of the car, but there were at least two occupants and the car was kerb-crawling beside me.

“After the driver asked me these three questions, before I could even answer his questions he said that my dog looks old.

“My dog was walking ahead a bit and it was dark, so he must have watched her a while and he must have known exactly what he was looking for.”

The dog owner said: “The driver asking me the questions was a white man with a skinhead and just had a sort of brazen attitude; it was unsettling.

“Straight away I was nervous and worried, as there was more than one of them and those (are the) kind of questions I heard on national news before.”

When he was close to his house, Mr Prescott walked past his front door with his dog in his arms and waited until the car was gone until he walked back and entered his home.

The experience left Mr Prescott feeling uneasy and wanting to warn others about the suspicious incident and the driver.

Mr Prescott said: “My dog is like a family member. It’s sad that I can’t simply take her out for a walk in my own neighbourhood without having to worry.”

He adopted his dog Booboo from the RSPCA in May 2020. To lose Booboo, a chihuahua mix, aged 10, would have been devastating for Mr Prescott.

He said: “It would have been one of the worst things that could have happened to me.

“It would have been horrendous if we lost the dog on top of my partner having a long-term illness.”

The incident has been reported to police via the non-emergency 101 number.