Potential Brighton rape case witnesses contact police after public appeal

Two potential witnesses in a rape case have contacted Sussex Police after their photographs were published yesterday (Thursday 22 May).

Three men from Brighton have been arrested on suspicion of rape after receiving a complaint from a 19-year-old woman from Hove.

The men are 30, 23 and 22 years old. The 22-year-old was also held on suspicion of having class B drugs.

Two other men – who are not suspects – are believed to have gone to a flat in Kemp Town at the same time as the teenage victim and her alleged attackers.

Sussex Police published a picture of the two men yesterday and asked for help in finding them.

The force said: “These two men may hold the key to what happened to a 19-year-old Hove woman who woke up in a strange house after a night out in the city in April.

“The woman had been socialising with a friend in Brighton in the early hours of Sunday 6 April and, when the city club they were in closed at 6am, they were invited back to a flat in Kemp Town by a group of men they had met.

“As they walked back, they were joined by others, including the two men shown in the photo.”

Detective Constable Gemma Holley said: “It appears that it was quite a sociable group and the two in the photo were invited along en route.

“The image comes from CCTV in the lift in the block of flats.

“I would stress that these men are not suspects but they may have important information as to what happened at the party.”

All three suspects have been bailed until Wednesday 18 June.