A woman was subjected to a serious sexual assault on the beach early this morning.

Police have cordoned off a small area of the beach west of the Palace Pier in the area to the south of Pool Valley.

Detective Inspector Lee Horner said: "I want to reassure the public that all allegations of this nature are taken extremely seriously and a large number of police officers are being used to gather all available evidence."

The victim is helping police piece together the events and is being supported by specialist officers.

Police are keen to speak to anyone who was in the area between the hours off 3am and 4am on Sunday who may have any information that may be useful to the enquiry.

Call police on 101.