Sex attacker tried second assault

The man who tried to rape a 15-year-old girl in Coleraine on Sunday attempted to attack another teenager shortly afterwards, the PSNI have said.

The girl was attacked in the Crescent area of the town as she walked home from a party early on Sunday.

He pushed her into bushes 100 yards from her home, but she managed to fight him off.

Inspector John Wisener said the man then returned along the path and approached another girl, who ran away.

Inspector Wisener said police believed the attacker was a local man who had been loitering in an area known locally as the Cornfield.

"We see this as a particularly dangerous person," he said.

"The fact that he has tried twice is something that we are concerned about, and we would like to catch him as soon as possible."

He appealed to anyone with information to contact police.

"There is a bonfire close by and we know that there were people out looking after the bonfire and they may have seen this person.

"We do believe there are people out there who know who this person is," he said.

The chairman of Coleraine Borough Council's District Policing Partnership, councillor John Dallat, appealed to parents to make sure their children were safe at all times.

"It's not easy to predict when it will happen, but I think we all need to be prepared for it and to ensure that young people, especially females, take whatever precautions they can," he said.