A trial date has been set for a 17-year-old boy charged with carrying out two sex attacks in Brighton.
The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denied both counts of sexual assault at Lewes Crown Court this morning (Friday 3 January).
He will face a jury trial – expected to last for seven days – starting on Monday 18 May.
The Sudanese teenager, from Lambeth, in south London, is accused of sexually assaulting a woman in North Street, Brighton, on Saturday 5 October.
He is alleged to have attacked a second woman in Seymour Street, in Kemp Town, the next day.
The youth was arrested as part of Operation Downgate, the Sussex Police operation investigating five allegations of sexual assault in the centre of Brighton.
When he was charged Sussex Police said: “Inquiries are also continuing into the other three incidents – in Ditchling Road on (Wednesday) 24 July and in East Street on (Friday) 11 October and in King’s Road on (Sunday) 20 October.”
The force said that there had been no further incidents since Sunday 20 October, adding: “Throughout the continuing investigation detectives had been considering possible links between the offences, including the consideration that the same person could have been responsible for all the attacks.
“However, further detailed inquiries, including information from victims, further CCTV images and information from the public, led the police to conclude that not all the attacks are linked and therefore were not all carried out by the same person.”
