Hounslow Slasher: Police Step up Hunt for Attacker Who Preys on Lone Women Walking Home

London police are searching for a knifeman who appears to be targeting young women walking home alone.

Detectives have released CCTV footage of a man they want to interview in relation to two attacks in Hounslow, west London, in which lone women were slashed across the face.

In the first attack, on 8 August, a 19-year-old woman was grabbed on Hanworth Road, close to the St Stephens Road junction, and cut across the neck. A second attack, on a 26-year-old woman who had her face cut from behind, happened just over a week later on Whitton Road, near to the scene of the first attack.

In both cases the victims did not get a clear look at the weapon. Police have described it as a "bladed item".

The image released by the Metropolitan Police shows a man described as a mixed-race, or light-skinned black male, between 5ft 6in and 5ft 11in and aged between 18 and 25.

Women are being urged not to walk alone on the streets at night and to be extra vigilant. Extra police are on patrol.