Police are again urging people make sure their children don't go alone to a nature reserve in Witham, close to Wickham Bishops, after yet another indecent exposure to teenage girls.

This is the latest in a string of incidents and happened at around 3.45pm yesterday, Wednesday 31 March, at Whetmead Nature Reserve. Police are treating the crimes as linked.

Four teenage girls were walking down Blackwater Lane towards the nature reserve when they became aware of the man who was facing away from them. He then turned and looked at them over his shoulder before crossing over Blackwater Lane in front of the girls and exposed himself.

The victims ran away from the man.

The man ran off towards Maldon Road in the direction of Saul's Bridge Close and was last seen at the junction of these two roads.

The man is described as white, roughly between 5ft 7ins and 5ft 8ins tall, of slim build, with dark wavy or slightly curly hair which was greasy.

He was wearing a black long-sleeved top which may have had a hood and possibly had a white logo on the front chest area. He was also wearing dark coloured jogging bottoms and trainers.

Police are appealing for information from anyone who was in the area at the time who may have seen a man matching the description prior to and after the exposure.

DC Deb Forsythe, of Braintree CID, said: "We believe that the man exposing himself must live close to the area as he clearly has local knowledge given the routes he uses and disappears a short time after the events.

"We believe the key to finding and arresting this individual lies with the public and would ask anyone who has any knowledge as to who this person is, to contact police as a matter of urgency.

"We understand these incidents will be concerning for our community and we are treating them very seriously. We have high visibility patrols taking place in the area but we would urge members of the public to vigilant and we would ask parents not to allow their children to go to the area alone."

Anyone with information which they believe will help the investigation should call Essex Police on 101 quoting incident 904 of 31 March.

Police have also released an efit of a man they want to speak to in connection with two incidents linked to yesterday's incident. They took place on Wednesday, 10 March and Friday, 12 March.

At about 4pm on 10 March, three girls reported walking in a green area just off Laurence Avenue, between Maldon Road and Pattison Close, when a man exposed himself.

The man in that incident is described as white, slim, approximately 20-years-old with medium-length dark brown hair. He was wearing a blue jacket, grey trousers, and brown shoes.

Two days later, a woman in her 30s was walking her dog in the Maldon Road area at around 10am when she reported a man exposing himself.

Anyone with information on these incidents should call police on 101 quoting crime reference number 42/44328/21 or cite incident 1046 of 22 March.