'Everybody is absolutely shocked at this' - Vigilance urged after Livingston teenage sex attack on woman, 61

The sickening ordeal took place in broad daylight.

A TEENAGE sex attacker is being hunted by police in Livingston after subjecting his victim to a sickening ordeal in broad daylight.

He demanded cash from his 61-year-old victim as she walked along Ogilvie Way, Knightsridge, before groping her and running off.

A community leader told how there were reports of two muggings nearby the day after though police are understood to have arrested a young suspect over the bag snatches.“It’s very alarming and means everybody has to be extra vigilant,” said Livingston North Tory councillor, Alison Adamson.

Police have been carrying out door-to-door inquiries and checking CCTV to try and identify the attacker.

The recent attacks, close to three schools, were discussed at Tuesday night’s meeting of Knightsridge Community Council.

“For it to be someone as young as that, he’s obviously got to be local,” said Cllr Adamson. “There’s every chance he’s from one of the schools, he’s not old enough to drive at that age.

“It’s a horrible coincidence these have happened on two separate days where a young person is involved.

“Everybody is absolutely shocked at this. It’s demoralising because they’ve been working so hard to improve the image of the area and it just takes one incident to destroy that.

“My sympathies are with everybody affected because it has a lasting effect on people. As a community, we’re very good at recovering and I’m very proud of them all.

“We’re very fortunate to have police officers who are local and they tend to know pretty much who everybody is.”

The victim of last Wednesday’s 11.50am attack was stopped by the boy, aged around 14 to 16, who grabbed and sexually assaulted her after she told him she had no money.

The suspect is described as white, Scottish, with a local accent, around 5ft 6 tall, of slim build, with reddish or auburn hair and brown eyes.

He was wearing a black waterproof coat, black jogging bottoms and black trainers – he ran off towards the shops on Cameron Way.

Last month, a boy as young as 13 robbed a 39-year-old man at knifepoint in nearby Eliburn for a few pounds.

Police have been carrying out door-to-door inquiries and checking CCTV to try and identify the attacker.

Detective Constable Lynn Myles said: “Thankfully there have been no other attacks of this nature in the area.

“It has been very distressing for the woman involved and it is imperative that we catch the suspect as soon as possible.

“The area would have been quite busy at this time. The road runs by a school, is on the way to local shops and used by dog walkers and runners, so maybe someone saw this boy hanging about or running off afterwards.”

Anyone with information can contact 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.