Woman sexually assaulted while walking dog

It happened at around 6pm on Saturday when a 53 year old woman was walking her dog along a footpath in a field close to the rear of Epping Avenue between Whinney Hill Road and East Crescent in Accrington.

She has walked past a man and on completing a circular walking route, she has noticed the same man walking towards her. He grabbed her shoulder and then forced his hand between her legs.

She shouted at the offender, pushed him off and managed to run away. He ran off in the opposite direction.

DI Paul Barlow from East CID said: “This was an extremely concerning assault on a woman simply out walking her pet on a well-known local dog walking route. I would like to reassure residents that whilst incidents like this are rare, we have stepped up patrols in the area.

“We need to find this man and so I would urge anyone who might have seen anything or knows of anyone matching the below description to get in touch immediately.”

The offender is described as white, between 18 to 20 years old, around 5ft 8in to 5ft 9iins, of medium build with thick, collar length blonde hair with an off centre parting. He was wearing a navy blue sweat top with a cream logo on the front, matching jogging bottoms with dark trainers.

Anyone with information can call East CID on 01254 353863 or if they fail to get an answer, 101, quoting incident reference 1088 of August 25th.