A teenage girl has been raped in a park after an evening in a pub.
The 17-year-old was subjected to the attack in Kay Park, Kilmarnock, on Sunday night.
Police said the victim had been in a local pub in the East Ayrshire town's West George Street, earlier that evening.
She left the premises at about 10.35pm and walked off with the suspect towards Portland Street.
They then went to the park, where she was attacked.
Afterwards, the victim made her way to Strawberrybank Road where she got help from members of the public who walked her home.
Although very distressed, she did not require hospital treatment, police said.
Police have upped patrols in the area and are scanning CCTV footage in a bid to catch the man responsible.
He is described as being white, aged 20 to 25, 6ft, with red hair and a local accent. He was wearing a dark red top and blue denim jeans.
Detective Inspector Graham Duncan appealed for witnesses to come forward.
He said: "At this time, extensive inquiries are ongoing to trace the male responsible.
"CCTV is being examined and we know that a number of people were outside the pub when the victim left the premises.
"They may have noticed her walking off with the suspect and I would urge them to come forward.
"They may also have been seen by people in the area of Kay Park on Sunday evening.
"I would appeal to anyone who was in Fanny by Gaslight on Sunday evening or in the area of Kay Park between 10pm and midnight to speak to police.
"Meantime, additional patrols are in the area and members of the public are encouraged to speak to officers if they have any information or concerns."
Police can be contacted on 101 and Crimestoppers can be reached on 0800 555 111.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article