A man has been arrested following an appeal on TV show Crimewatch to catch a thug who attacked an 83-year-old Crawley woman.

The arrest came a day after a reconstruction of the attack on widow Vera Stephens was shown on BBC1.

Ms Stephens was attacked on her doorstep by a man who then tried to indecently assault her.

A Crawley man in his 20s has now been arrested after a call to the TV show's London studio, which was manned by officers from Crawley.

He is being questioned by officers today.

Police spokesman Phil Woolf said: "We received quite a number of calls to both the incident room in Crawley and the Crimewatch studio in London. I am very pleased so many people came forward."

Retired English teacher Mrs Stephens defended herself by biting her assailant on the lip as he carried out the attack in her home in Brighton Road.

She was badly bruised when the attacker punched her in the face.