POLICE tonight appealed for witnesses after a man tried to sexually assault a 15-year-old girl in Littlemore Park, near to Kempson Terrace.

When the girl was near to the alleyway which leads out of the park a man came up to her from behind and assaulted her. The girl screamed and the man ran off in the opposite direction.

The assault happened at 4pm on Tuesday.

The man is white and in his late 30s to early 40s. He is of medium build and about 5ft 7in tall with short dark hair. At the time he was wearing a dark blue sweatshirt top with a red hood and light blue jeans.

Det Con Jacqui Bartlett, of Oxford police, said: "This could have been a very nasty offence. The girl was lucky that she managed to scare the man away, but she has been left very shaken.

"At the time this happened the girl was walking through the park on her mobile phone. There were quite a few people in the park at the time, some were walking their dogs and I hope that someone in the area might have seen the man before the assault happened."

Anyone with any information about this incident is asked to contact Det Con Jacqui Bartlett at Oxford police station via 0845 8 505 505, or if you do not want to talk to the police or give your name, call the Crimestoppers charity on 0800 555 111.