Police investigating an attack on a young couple at a beauty spot car park were today questioning a man.

Ian Haywood, of Hurstpierpoint, was being interviewed in connection with a knife attack on a 17-year-old girl at Ditchling Common. Her boyfriend was knocked out with a gun.

Haywood, 36, walked into a Sussex police station last night with his solicitor and was being questioned by detectives on Saturday.

A police spokesman said: "Ian Haywood walked into a Sussex police station with a solicitor and is now helping police with their inquiries."

The girl, attacked at a car park in Ditchling Common Country Park, Forders Lane, on Thursday night, has undergone emergency surgery for deep cuts to her face and chest.

She was in a stable condition at Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath.

The pair, from Burgess Hill, were sitting in their car at the popular beauty spot, which is used by courting couples, when a man approached the car and opened the door.

He first struck the man across the head with the butt of a gun, believed to be a fake, knocking him unconscious.

He then bundled the man into the rear of the car and attacked the girl with a knife, police said.

She suffered a deep cut to her face and neck, and slash wounds to her arms and chest, one of which penetrated the chest wall. Her injuries were not thought to be life-threatening.

The man fled when the girl managed to struggle free.

Superintendent John Dransfield said there was no obvious motive for the attack.