A MAN has been remanded in custody charged with attempted rape .

Sean Paul Smith, 35, of Sydney Street, Accrington, also faced a charge under the Protection from Harassment Act when he appeared before Blackburn Magistrates.

The charges follow an alleged attack on an 18 year-old woman on a grass bank opposite the Vauxhall Garage in Burnley Road, Accrington, early Thursday.

Police are appealing to residents in the Burnley Road, Queens Road and Whalley Road area to check their gardens for a dark woollen balaclava with two eye holes.

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