A 25-year-old woman who was alleged to have kidnapped a child from a Port Elizabeth beach earlier this year has gone on the run, Eastern Cape police said on Tuesday.

Megan Diedericks had been arrested in January and released on bail after the three-year-old toddler was found in her care several days after he went missing. The child had been taken from a beach in Summerstrand.

Col Priscilla Naidu said that Diedericks had failed to appear in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate's Court on March 5 2019, as scheduled.

The child had been at the beach with his grandmother when Diedericks allegedly befriended the elderly woman.

"They were waiting for the child's mother. While there, a woman introduced herself as Meagan from Shauderville, struck up a conversation with the grandmother and after a while both women went across to the nearby shopping centre to buy liquor.

"They went back to the beach and waited for the child's mother, who never arrived. The two women stayed on the beach and a while later, Diedericks went back to the shopping centre to buy cigarettes. She took the child with her and never returned," Naidu said.

The matter was reported to police and a search ensued.

"On January 6 2019, Diedericks was arrested in a shack in Victoria Drive in PE," Naidu said.

Following her failure to appear in court last month, the court issued a warrant for her arrest.

Anyone with information on Diedericks's whereabouts was asked to contact detective  Grant Measures on 072-732-4220 or 041-401-3001 or report this to their nearest police station.