Police have released a CCTV image of a man they believe witnessed a racially aggravated assault.

Officers are keen to speak to the man but stress that he is not thought to have been involved in the incident.

Police were called to the One Stop shop on Park Road, Coldean, following a report of an assault on April 22 at 12.30pm.

A 38-year old local man was arrested in the area shortly after on suspicion.

He was since been released on bail until June 14 while enquiries continue.

Police are investigating the possibility that the assault related to a previous incident involving the suspect's teenage daughter in the store a few minutes beforehand.

The CCTV image released shows a customer who was in the shop at the time of the assault.

He is white, aged about 25 to 35 and was wearing what appears to be a Brighton and Hove Albion top of some kind.

Detective Constable Aran Boyt said: "We would like to emphasise that this man was in no way connected with either incident - he was simply a bystander in the shop but we think he may have valuable information.

“We are naturally reluctant to release images of witnesses but we feel that in this case his evidence could really help the investigation and all our efforts to trace him have so far not met with success.

"If you are that man, or if you know who he is, please give us a call via 101 quoting serial 0709 of 22 April."