A WHEELCHAIR-bound man was said to be "extremely traumatised" last night after being subjected to an horrific sex ordeal by a male attacker.The disabled man, in his 20s, had been approached by the assailant just moments before the assault in Lowestoft – when he pretended to befriend him and offered to push him to a pub.

By Sarah Chambers

A WHEELCHAIR-bound man was said to be "extremely traumatised" last night after being subjected to an horrific sex ordeal by a male attacker.

The disabled man, in his 20s, had been approached by the assailant just moments before the assault in Lowestoft – when he pretended to befriend him and offered to push him to a pub.

But as the victim was pushed along, the attacker took the wheelchair-bound man to a secluded spot before forcing him to commit indecent acts on him.

Last night, Detective Inspector Jim Keeble of Suffolk police, said: "This was a particularly nasty offence upon a vulnerable victim."

The attack happened on Friday night, after the victim had been out for a drink with friends.

The friends had decided to go their separate ways around 11pm and the disabled man was making his way over a bridge and up London Road North. He was near British Home Stores when he became aware of a man approaching him.

The man engaged him in conversation, and offered to push him to a pub on the High Street.

He accepted, and they headed towards the Gordon Road junction, where he turned the corner towards the bus station.

When they got to the area near the Woolworths loading bay the man then stopped and forced the victim to commit indecent acts.

He then took him to a small alleyway on the north side of Regent Road where further indecent acts took place and the victim was assaulted.

The man fled and the distressed victim made his way into London Road North and was met by a group of youths, who helped him to the police station.

It was later discovered that the victim had lost his mobile phone – a Nokia 3330 with a blue cover. Police are asking anyone finding it to get in touch.

Detectives have also released CCTV images of a man they want to trace in connection with the incident. He is described as white, aged in his early 20s, about 5ft 6ins tall, thin, with short, blond hair.

At the time he was wearing jeans, a pale coloured shirt and a very distinctive white top with two black hoops on each sleeve and black patches under the arms.

Detective Inspector Jim Keeble said: "We would ask this man to get in touch with us immediately. We would also ask local people to take a look at these CCTV images to see if they recognise the man we would like to speak to."

Police are particularly keen to trace a blond woman, who appears to be wearing a light coloured long coat and dark high-heeled shoes or boots, who was captured on CCTV images.

"It is important that this woman, or anyone else in the area around 11.30pm, who may have seen this man, get in touch with us as soon as possible," he added.

A team of police officers have been working on the case over the weekend, and extra officers were drafted in on Saturday night. They talked to people around the area where the assault took place, and visited pubs, clubs and door staff.

Yesterday they were following up "many and various" lines of inquiry.

Det Insp Keeble described the incident as "extremely serious", and said they wanted to solve it as quickly as possible.

"The whole incident would have left him extremely traumatised by the nature of what's happened to him," he said.

"It's a particularly cowardly attack on a very vulnerable member of society and we are treating it with the utmost importance."

He asked anyone with useful information to call Lowestoft CID as soon as possible on 01986 835100.