Police are searching for a man in his 20s after two foreign students were attacked.

At about 11.40pm on Monday, a 13-year-old German girl was sexually assaulted on Milfoil Drive, Eastbourne.

The student was heading home after getting off a bus but became lost and asked a man for directions. The man punched her and sexually assaulted her before stealing her purse and running away.

The girl went to a nearby house where residents helped her and called police.

Just 25 minutes earlier, police believe the same man approached a 16-year-old Italian girl on the same road, Milfoil Drive, close to Shinewater Lane.

The man asked for the time and grabbed the teenagers hair but ran away after she screamed loudly.

Police believe the incidents are linked. Both girls described their attackers as a tall, slim, white man aged about 20, with short brown hair and brown eyes. He was wearing a black top, possibly a T-shirt, and black trousers or jeans. Police are keen to trace a man who was seen running in the area of Oulton Close who matches this description.