A seafront sex attacker who preyed on courting couples has admitted 12 crimes.

Ricardo Tavares stalked Brighton beach late at night to attack young men and women sitting near the sea.

He pleaded guilty to four separate attacks after undercover police caught him sizing up his next victims.

Tavares, 25, of Montpelier Terrace, Brighton, admitted two counts of assault with intent to commit a sexual offence, two of wounding with intent, two of assault causing actual bodily harm, two of theft and four of sexual assault.

The crimes all took place between April last year and this February.

His victims were punched and kicked, had their belongings stolen and in some cases were sexually assaulted.

Some were left needing stitches for their injuries.

On Thursday February 26 a 22-year-old man was punched and kicked and his 19-year-old girlfriend was sexually assaulted.

On Wednesday October 15 last year a man and a woman were sitting on the beach eating food when a man spoke to them, went away, then returned ten minutes and attacked them.

Detectives described the assault at the time as “nasty and unprovoked”.

After the most recent attack police linked four separate crimes in the same area, near the Palace Pier.

They established a pattern of times and days of the week when he had struck.

Plainclothes officers were posted to patrol the seafront and look out for people behaving suspiciously.

In the early hours of Thursday March 5, they spotted Tavares watching a couple on the beach.

When police approached him he ran off. They gave chase and stopped him.

When he was searched, the officers found a distinctive hat which had been described by previous victims and a stone which they believed would have been used to hit the couple.

Tavares appeared at Lewes Crown Court on Thursday. He was remanded in custody to be sentenced on July 6.

Detective Chief Inspector Ian Pollard said: “These were very serious attacks on courting couples.

"The tenacity of the investigators and the thoroughness of their planning and research led to this individual being charged with a number of offences.

"The quality of the investigation and the evidence they gathered led to his guilty plea in court."