A 13-year-old girl was indecently assaulted as she visited a public art gallery.

The teenager was said to be shocked after the incident, which happened as she walked around Eastbourne's Towner Art Gallery in Gildredge Park.

Police today appealed for witnesses to the incident which took place at 2.50pm yesterday.

It is unclear whether the victim was on her own or visiting the gallery with friends or her family.

She told police her attacker was white and in his late thirties.

He is 5ft 7in to 5ft 8in tall and of stocky build, with tanned skin and short brown hair, combed forward.

The girl told police he was wearing a blue vest top, blue shorts, brown shoes and white socks.

A police spokesman said: "The gallery is a busy place on a Bank Holiday Monday and we would appreciate anyone who saw anything coming forward."

A Towner Gallery spokesman declined to comment.

Gildredge Park, where the gallery is situated, has seen several indecent assaults and cases of indecent exposure during the past year.

In April, police warned women to be on their guard after a sex offender handcuffed a 20-year-old woman and subjected her to a terrifying attack.

The victim, who had to be freed by the fire brigade, needed hospital treatment and counselling to recover from her ordeal.

Last month a 15-year-old girl walking through the park was targeted by a man who indecently exposed himself to her after emerging from some bushes.

Elsewhere in Eastbourne yesterday a parent called the police after a man exposed himself to two girls aged eight and nine on the seafront.

The mother of one of the children approached the man, who ran off down Channel View Road.

The offender is described as white, aged about 45, with greyish brown receding hair.

He is 5ft 8in tall, of stocky build with a beer belly and was wearing a royal blue T-shirt with a picture on it, multi coloured shorts and dark coloured strapped sandals.

Witnesses to either of yesterday's incidents are asked to contact Eastbourne police on 0845 6070999.