Police have issued a description of a man after a girl was sexually assaulted in Witham. 

A man approached a girl crossing the bridge over the river on Bramble Road at around 3.30pm on Monday (February 15) and sexually assaulted her.

The girl managed to fight the man off and run away.

The man was described as being intoxicated, white, in his late 20s to early 30s, around 5ft 6ins tall, chubby, and wearing a dark coloured tracksuit and black Nike 720 trainers.

Just over an hour later, it was reported that a man fitting the same description exposed himself to a girl who was walking along Highfields Road towards the station.

Detective Sergeant Jamie Stirland said: “We know these incidents will be concerning but I want to reassure you that incidents like this are rare

“We have detectives working to identify the man involved and extra patrols taking place in these areas.

“I need anyone who may have seen this man, have CCTV or dash cam footage, or any other information to come forward to us.

“The information you have could be really important to identifying and locating him.”

If you have any information call 101 quoting the crime reference number 42/27177/21 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.