A woman was raped after meeting a man on a night out.

The 26-year-old met the man after she left The Tube nightclub on Brighton seafront in the early hours of Saturday morning (May 17).

She was approached by him near to Meeting House Lane and Prince Albert Street and asked for a cigarette.

He then walked with her to the taxi rank and travelled in the taxi with her to the Hollingdean area, where he raped her.

The suspect is described as being white and skinny and about 24-years-old. He is said to be around 5' 9", with brown hair a couple of inches long which was swept to one side and came down over his forehead. It is believed to have been waxed or gelled.

He was wearing a blue diamond shaped quilted long sleeved jacket with a grey rectangular fabric sewn into the back. He also had medium fit blue denim jeans and white and blue trainers.

Detective constable Paul Ash said: "We are appealing to anyone who might have seen the pair walking through the city. The route they took was along Black Lion Street into the lanes using Meeting House Lane to North Street and then left onto New Road.

“They then went straight across and up Jubilee Street, then either up Robert Street or Vine Street onto Gloucester Place through a cut through by the Eagle pub to Gloucester Street and left onto St Georges Mews.

“They then turned right down Trafalgar Street, before going left on York Place to the taxi rank on St Peters Place".

"It was quite a long walk and we are hoping someone might have seen them as they walked past and might be able to help us with our investigation.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 101 quoting serial 218 of 17/5.