A criminal has met his victim to apologise for his crime.

The unnamed offender was a cyclist who was arrested in January after an incident in Avis Road, Newhaven, where a driver was abused and had his car window smashed.

The cyclist pleaded guilty to criminal damage and was later sentenced to a conditional discharge for 12 months.

But after sentencing, the victim, 50-year-old Jamie Crawford, of Denton Drive, Newhaven, contacted Sussex Police to request a meeting with the cyclist in the hope of an apology and explanation.

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The pair were eventually reunited in more sedate circumstances through Sussex Police’s Restorative Justice Partnership – a programme where victims can meet offenders to talk about crimes committed against them.

Mr Crawford, who received an apology, said: “I was pleased to be able to address the offender with confidence and speak my truth, without any sense of fear or anger.

“I was pleased that he was able to apologise at least to the minimum degree that I would find acceptable and that we were able to agree at the end of the conference that the matter had been resolved satisfactorily and that both of us could now put it in the past.

“Very importantly for me, by the end of the conference I felt that some of the dignity I felt I’d lost by becoming a victim of crime in the way I did on the day of the offence and in the weeks following had been restored to me by the way I conductedmyself in the conference.”

Restorative justice takes place after conviction and sentence and can also happen in prison if the offender is serving their sentence.

Sussex Police say the programme gives victims the chance to ask unanswered questions with the view of gaining closure and has also helped towards encouraging criminals from reoffending.

Katy Bourne, Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner, said: “I am fully supportive of Restorative Justice Initiatives which give victims the chance to tell offenders about the real impact of their crime, to get answers to their questions and to receive an apology.

“It gives the offenders the chance to understand the real consequences of what they've done and to do something to repair the harm.”