SEXUAL offences on trains have been revealed to have more than doubled in five years nationally, just days after police issued a CCTV image of a man suspected of indecent assault on a service through East Lancashire.

Almost 1,500 sexual offences on trains were reported on trains nationally in the 2016-17 policing year, against 650 in 2012-13.

Most of the reports were in relation to sex assaults on females aged 13 and above.

The attack on the train through East Lancashire was on a teenage girl.

It took place between Preston and Blackburn on a York-bound service. The man left the train at Blackburn.

Police said the man sat next to the 16-year-old and talked with her before touching her inappropriately. The girl was left distressed and shaken.

No arrests have yet been made in connection with the assault.

In June last year Daniel Smith, then 28, of no fixed address, was convicted after a trial by Blackburn magistrates of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl on a train between Preston and Mill Hill, Blackburn. He was jailed for six months.

Figures for incidents in the Lancashire force area have, however, remained stable over the same five years at 10, 10, nine, 10 and nine for the respective years from 2012/13.

Addressing the national figures, Det Chief Insp Darren Malpas of British Transport Police said an awareness campaign two years ago by the force was likely to have prompted an increase in reporting.

He said: “When the ‘Report it to stop it’ campaign launched, we fully expected to record a rise in sexual offences and it is pleasing that previously reluctant victims of sexual offences now have the confidence to report this to us.

“Tackling all unwanted sexual behaviour on public transport is a priority and we have worked hard to send a clear message to victims that they will be taken seriously.”