Police search for this man in beach rape inqury (From The Argus)

Police search for this man in beach rape inqury

3:39pm Sunday 28th October 2012 in News By Ben Parsons

Police investigating the rape of a 19-year-old woman on Brighton beach are trying to trace this man.

The woman was attacked by two men on the beach opposite the bottom of West Street early on Friday, September 7.

Police arrested two men in October but have since ruled them out.

Another suspect was arrested on October 10 and released on bail until November 8.

Detectives have recovered this CCTV footage of another man they want to speak to.

He entered Oceana in West Street at about 10.30pm on the Thursday night.

Early on the Friday morning he walked up West Street, then turned into Duke Street.

Detective Inspector Ian Still, who is leading the investigation, said: "The identity of this man is urgently sought, given that he was close to the area of the attack within about 20 minutes of it taking place. We would like to talk to him in order to eliminate him from our enquiries.

"He is described as possibly Asian, in his 20s, around 5ft 7in, medium build, with short dark hair. He was last seen wearing a light coloured T-shirt with a large motif on the front, blue jeans, trainers and a baseball cap.

"If you know who this man is or you were in the area of the Oceana nightclub or on the beach opposite West Street between 1:55am and 2:20am in the early hours of Friday 7 September and saw or heard any suspicious activity then please get in touch."

Anyone with information can give information confidentially to Sussex Police on 101, quoting Operation Harvard, or can call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.