For a while, yesterday afternoon, I was under police arrest as a suspect in an International pedophile ring. Fortunately, the responding officer was intelligent and used his judgement in accessing the situation and I was released from police custody. In other circumstances, I might not have been so lucky.

What happened? I got caught up in Wee Shaun's Excellent Adventure.

I was in Edinburgh with my interior design consultant shopping for a small digital TV. We had drawn a blank at PC World and were on our way to Comet along the A8 when Shaun entered my life.

He was standing on the pedestrian island in the middle of the A8 Glasgow Road just at PC World. Cute as a button. Blue jacket, lighter blue jeans, dark blue shades, short blonde hair. A four year old with not a responsible adult in sight, standing out like a sore thumb. The message "I am a lost and vulnerable child".

I got out of the car and helped Shaun over to the north side of the street. Communication with a four year old isn't my strong suite but from what I could gather he had been shopping with his mum and had decided to head for home on his lonesome. Home was somewhere up the hill.

What to do?

I asked Shaun where he was headed. Home. Where's home? An outstretched arm indicated up the hill. So we set off up the hill.

I didn't know what I was doing at the time but in retrospect I did the right thing. I didn't confront the kid and insist that we go looking for his mum. Here was a brave wee boy who for his very own reasons had decided that shopping at Tesco's with his mother wasn't the hot ticket. So he jacked that in and took off.

We followed his game plan. I didn't pick him up or try to physically restrain him. He was perfectly happy since he knew what he was doing in his own mind and I was going along with him.

After a quarter of a mile home didn't seem to be any nearer. I stopped a cab and asked the cabbie to radio his dispatcher to call the police. No chance. Get involved? You have got to be joking.

I didn't have my cell phone with me. Eventually a passer-by made the call for me.

The responding officers accessed the situation and a distraught mum was delivered by a second police car.

All's well that ends well. Shaun would have a good nights sleep and be stronger from the experience the next day.

Lessons?

Brave wee laddies will decide to explore the world on their own without making any prior statements of intent. Society must allow this natural tendency by getting involved so that wandering children don't fall prey to the hazards that follow their enterprise.

It must become a criminal offense to fail to act to protect the young, the frail and vulnerable.

The Daily Express can continue selling papers in England with lurid headlines exploiting isolated tragic events such as the Madeline McCann story. Their Scottish edition will not stir Scottish concerns of child abduction.

We must give Shaun the chance to follow his dreams without coming to harm.