A SEX fiend attacked a teenage girl in the street after befriending her while she was on a night out.

Police said the 17-year-old victim was pounced on in the King William Street area of Blackburn town centre.

Her attacker had begun talking to her while she was enjoying a night out with friends.

The attack happened after the girl became separated from her pals and went off with the man, who is his mid 20s.

Detective Sergeant Paul Elms, of Blackburn CID, said the man carried out a violent and serious sexual assault.

He said the victim, who had travelled into Blackburn from a nearby town, where she lives, was left extremely upset and shocked after the incident, at around 2am on Saturday.

The attacker was an Asian male, 5ft 9ins to 5ft 11ins, of average build with muscular arms. He had short black hair shaved at the sides and slightly long and spikey on top, protruding or "goofy", overlapping teeth and a small fashionable goatee beard.

DS Elms said: "The attack happened in the vicinity of King William Street when the girl was out on a night out in Blackburn centre with her friends who were also from out of the area.

"She had struck up a conversation with the male and became separated from her friends when she went off with the male and the attack happened. She is extremely upset and shocked as are all her friends."

The attack is the second alleged sexual assault on a clubber in Blackburn this month. On June 6, a 35-year-old woman claimed a man, who she met at a nightclub in Preston, tried to attack her at a flat in Johnston Street, Blackburn.

The two incidents are not thought to be connected.

Witnesses to the latest incident are asked to contact Blackburn CID on 01254 353563.