Man arrested after woman is sexually assaulted in Bamber Bridge town centre

The man is alleged to have groped a woman outside her home, near the William Hill bookmakers, in Station Road around 7.30pm.

He was apprehended by the woman's friends who rushed to her rescue and detained him outside the M & J Convenience Store.

The group held onto the suspect until police arrived and arrested a 25-year-old man. He remains in custody.

The victim, aged in her early 20s, was one of a number of women who were allegedly harassed by the suspect that evening.

Police said they received further reports of suspicious behaviour regarding the same man in Station Road.

Officers said they received a report from a woman in her 30s who said she had been harassed outside the John Dory chip shop just minutes earlier.

The suspect then allegedly ran across Station Road and harassed a woman in her 60s as she went to get in her car outside Natwest bank.

The suspect then continued up Station Road where he allegedly assaulted the woman outside William Hill.

A police spokesman said: "We were called around 7.40pm on Monday (January 21) following reports a woman had been sexually assaulted in Bamber Bridge.

"The woman, in her 20s, alleged she had been touched inappropriately by a man in Station Road.

"Police attended the scene and later arrested a 25-year-old man from Bamber Bridge on suspicion of sexual assault."