POLICE have arrested a man after a 12-year-old girl was assaulted and a woman who challenged her attacker was kicked unconscious.

The 30-year-old woman needed hospital treatment after being pushed to the floor and kicked in the head and legs, before the attacker in his mid 20s ran away along a canal towpath, say police.

The incidents happened at the junction of Springfield Road with Hollingreave Road, Burnley at 10.40am on Friday when the young girl was approached by a man who asked for change and a light.

He then assaulted her but she was able to get away from him.

The woman intervened and was attacked.

She was released from hospital after treatment.

A man was due to appear before Burnley magistrates today.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.