Detectives have praised the "incredibly brave" victim of a sex attack for helping with their enquiries after she was assaulted while out running in Elveden.

The woman was found unconscious after an attempted sexual assault which took place at some point between 11am and noon on Tuesday, November 9.

The incident occurred on London Road — known locally as the old A11 — near the junction from the A11 southbound towards Elveden Road.

The victim — a young woman — was out jogging along a footpath, when she was approached by a man and assaulted.

The woman was hit on the back of the head and the man attempted to pull down her leggings before leaving the area in an unknown direction.

The woman, who was found unconscious and lying on the pavement by a member of the public, was taken to hospital by ambulance. She was treated and later discharged.

Superintendent Janine Wratten said: "The woman has been incredibly brave helping officers with their enquiries trying to progress this investigation.

"We are still making lots of enquiries and there still officers on scene and there will be for the next few days, not only continuing with the investigation and getting the best forensics but also because we need to do a lot of community reassurance.

"We understand how worrying this is for the public. It happened midday during daylight hours and the community should be able to feel safe to go out for a jog and we are as shocked as they are.

"My officers that work that area are local resident and community members themselves so they are as keen as anyone to hunt this person down and bring him to justice."

There will be a bigger police presence in the area while officers carry out further investigations and to reassure the public. The road is expected to remain closed until Thursday, November 11, while officers and forensics teams work at the scene.

"Officers will be carrying out CCTV enquiries, house to house, forensics and we will actually have local officers on patrol as well to make people feel safe as they should be able to feel safe," superintendent Wratten said.

"There are a lot of resources involved in this case at the moment, and rightly so.

"We are keen to hear from anyone who might have been in the area between 11am and 1pm as that would be really useful for our enquiries."

Supt Wratten confirmed that sexual assault is being treated as an isolated incident.

"If anyone provides information that it could be linked then we will look into it but at the moment it is being treated as an isolated incident," she said.

The suspect is described as male, approximately 5ft 9ins tall, had brown stubble on his face and he was heard speaking with an English accent.

He was also wearing a black puffer jacket with the hood up and was seen with a bike.

Officers would also like to thank anyone who has given them any information and to the public for their patience while the part of the A11 is closed.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Suffolk police, quoting reference: 37/63186/21.