A MAN has been arrested after two girls were brutally attacked in a Southampton park.
Detectives this morning launched a manhunt after the girls - aged 15 and 16 - suffered facial and head injuries in an attack in Hinkler Park, Thornhill, last night.
An 18-year-old from Southampton has been arrested in connection with the incident. He is currently in police custody.
Officers say the girls, who are both from Southampton, were in a communal area of a block of flats in Chettle Road, Bitterne, earlier in the evening when a man spoke to them on the stairs, and there was an exchange of words.
They went to the skate park where they saw the same man. There was an altercation and the girls were seriously assaulted.
The girls sustained facial and head injuries and are being treated at Southampton General Hospital.
Detective sergeant Paul Harrison said: “This was a nasty assault on these girls. Were you in the area at the time? Did you see anything?
“We believe a third teenage girl may also have been involved and work is underway to speak with her.
“If you saw three girls in the park with a man or you saw the actual assault, please contact my team as soon as possible.”
Anyone with any information is asked to contact Bitterne CID on 101 or call the charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111
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