Police have new leads in the hunt for the brutal attacker who left a cleaner for dead.

More than 50 calls were received following an appeal on BBC TV's Crimewatch programme last night.

Philip Gray, 54, is slowly improving at the Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton, from a fractured skull after he was battered about the head.

The attack happened in Brighton Square, in The Lanes, on October 1, the day after a large demonstration during the Labour Party conference.

Mr Gray worked for The Lanes Traders Association for more than 20 years. Traders have contributed to a £15,000 reward offered to anyone with information leading to an arrest and conviction.

Police also received a number of calls last night concerning the murder of 14-year-old schoolboy Keith Lyon, stabbed on downland at Woodingdean, Brighton, in 1967.

His mother, 82-year-old Valda Lyon, appeared on the programme to make an emotional plea for information.

Carolyn Bond, of Sussex Police, said: "We received an excellent response and officers are now following up new lines of inquiry concerning both cases."