A vulnerable child who was "learning to trust again" is now afraid to leave home after being terrorised by a teenager wearing a 'Purge' mask.

The 11-year-old was walking home on Boslowick Road at around 5.45pm yesterday when a teen dressed in black wearing a mask from the film The Purge jumped out of the woods and chased him down the road.

He was on his phone to his mum at the time, and she heard a "blood-curdling scream" as he started running.

She said: "I thought the worst had happened. I didn't know what to do because I was in the house and he was on his own."

The mum, who did not want to be named, said that her son has had a traumatic childhood and that yesterday was the first time he had been allowed out of the house on his own.

After the frightening incident, she says, the boy has had nightmares and does not leave want to leave home.

She said: "As teenagers I know that you can try and show off in front of your peers. However, on this occasion they have chosen a child that's been through a lot already."

She added that as a non-driver, she will now have to pay for taxis for her son.

"He's a traumatised child that's learning to trust again. I'm a parent that's trusting my son to go out and do normal children things. He should be safe out walking at 5.45pm."

Penryn College, where the boy is a student, has responded quickly to the incident and has promised to put safeguarding measures in place to protect him.

A Devon and Cornwall Police spokesperson said: "Police are aware of reports of a teenage boy being approached by a male wearing a mask on Boslowick Road, shortly before 6pm on Tuesday November 5.

"The teenager made his way out of the area safely.

"The neighbourhood team have been made aware of this matter."