Man charged with kidnapping and sexually assaulting girl in East Sussex

Police received a report of a teenage girl being followed by a man in a white vehicle in Gorselands, Bexhill, at around midnight on Saturday (June 27).

The girl was seen to get into the vehicle which drove away, police said.

In the early hours of Sunday (June 28), officers tracked down the suspect vehicle at a property in Withyham Road and arrested a man.

The victim – who was under the age of 16 – was not at the property but later located safe at an address known to her, police said.

Sussex Police said it was reported the victim was initially ‘picked up’ in Hastings town centre and taken to a property in Bexhill, where she was sexually assaulted before being driven close to an address she is familiar with.

Police said Steve Perry, 64, retired, of Rothwell Drive, Solihull, West Midlands, was charged with false imprisonment, kidnapping with intent to commit a sexual offence and sexual assault.

He appeared in custody by videolink at Brighton Magistrates’ Court on Monday (June 29) where he was further remanded in custody and sent for trial at Lewes Crown Court with an initial appearance on 27 July.