A MAN was subjected to a homophobic attack as he sunbathed naked on a beach.

He was on the nudist section of Portslade beach next to Shoreham Harbour on Saturday afternoon when he was targeted by a man on the regular public beach.

The victim had wandered on to the main section of beach to try to find a friend.

The other man grew irate and began shouting at him, hurling abuse.

He said: “The nudist beach isn’t very well defined. I walked across to the main beach to look for a friend.

“There was a couple there and the man started screaming his face off. It was really intimidating.”

The victim said the man shouted at him for showing his naked body in front of his wife before launching into a tirade of homophobic abuse.

He said: “I tried to walk away but he just kept shouting. He was getting increasingly mad.

“Then he just carried on shouting homophobic abuse at everyone on the nudist beach. Then he picked up a massive pebble and threatened to throw it at me.

“While this was going on the other beachgoers were getting increasingly alarmed and started walking away.

“He continued to be threatening. Then he picked up a pebble and threw it at me. It hit my left forearm and caused a bruise. I was really shocked.”

The victim called 999 and was told a unit was being sent out. Half an hour later when the couple began to the leave he rang police again but was told the call was not a priority and to call 101 and report the details.

He said: “The call handler said they were very stretched but it wasn’t a priority.

“I gave them all the details and they said they would file it as a crime but there were no lines of investigation because I hadn’t taken a picture of the culprit.”

The attacker is described as white, bald and in his fifties. The victim hopes someone may have seen the incident or have CCTV from the nearby area to help police investigate.

He said: “I was really shocked by the level of homophobic abuse. He just assume I was gay and started shouting at me. I am but that’s not the point. I would also have hoped that people might have stepped in and told him it wasn’t OK to act like that, but I understand people might have been scared.

“The message I really want to get across is that you need to report these incidents, but that I hope that if people witness them they would report it to the police or take some pictures too.”

Sussex Police have been contacted for comment.