Second man held after knifepoint sex attack

A second man has been arrested by detectives investigating a knifepoint sex attack on a man in a quiet market town.

The 24-year-old, from Lingfield, Surrey, was held in Eastbourne yesterday on suspicion of being involved in the assault on the middle-aged man.

He was later bailed without charge until September 11, pending further inquiries by detectives, a spokesman for Sussex Police said today.

The victim, who was attacked in Wadhurst, East Sussex, in broad daylight, spoke of his ordeal earlier this month in a bid to trace his attacker.

He told of the difficulty he faced in confiding to his wife what happened after he was stopped by a motorist asking for directions in The Marlpit, at 4.45pm on Friday July 16, and then sexually assaulted.

He said he decided to go public with an appeal for witnesses after sleepless nights fearing the next victim could be a woman or a child.

The man, who is black, said that after the passenger got out of the car he made a racist comment to the driver before hitting the victim in the face, knocking him to his knees.

After the assault the victim said he believed his attacker was disturbed as the driver yelled at him before he got back into the car.

After his attacker escaped, the man took a T-shirt from his bag to staunch the blood from his cut mouth and made his way home.

Another man, a 31-year old, was arrested at his home in Lingfield earlier this month on suspicion of being involved in the assault and bailed to September 11 pending further police inquiries.

Although racist comments were made during the attack, police have said it was not at this stage being treated as racially motivated.