A 15-YEAR-OLD girl was left shocked after she was grabbed by a man as she walked in York.

Police said the girl was walking along Foss Islands Road when she heard footsteps behind her.

Suddenly the man grabbed her bottom with both hands and grunted something in her ear, which she could not understand.

Her attacker was said to be 6ft tall, in his late forties with scruffy black hair and a scruffy stubble beard.

He was wearing a dark blue duffel coat with a fur-trimmed hood which he had pulled up over his head.

A police spokeswoman said: "The girl was not injured but she was obviously quite distressed."

Police are particularly keen to speak to a woman who was said to have cycled past at the time of the attack, which happened at about 8.45pm on Saturday.

Anyone with information should call police in York on 631321.

Updated: 14:42 Tuesday, October 02, 2001