There have been seven sex attacks this freshers season

A rapist followed a Sussex fresher to her halls before attacking her – in the fifth sex attack on a student this freshers season.

The attacker forced himself on a 21-year-old as she was going to bed after drinking outside her halls at Sussex University’s Falmer campus.

There have six been other rapes around UK unis in the last fortnight – Manchester (twice), Newcastle (twice), Oxford and Kingston.

At least five of the victims were definitely students, while the others are unknown.

In Manchester a fake taxi driver assaulted a 19-year-0ld student after she had been clubbing at a jungle themed event at Pangaea during Freshers’ Week.

A second woman was assaulted in Manchester city centre after visiting Orchid Lounge karaoke bar and walking with a man to an area near the University of Manchester’s science building.

Two incidents have taken place in Newcastle within a fortnight of each other. The first of those occurred inside popular club Ohso.

Police received a report at the start of October that a woman in her twenties had been raped on the same street.

And Thames Valley police arrested a man in connection with a rape in Oxford in late September.

All the victims were women, except for a man who was assaulted in the men’s toilets at Pryzm in Kingston, a venue described as “a multi-award winning nightclub in Kingston-upon-Thames providing an amazing clubbing experience for a party and night out”.

In connection with the Sussex assault Detective Sergeant Simon Dunn, of Sussex Police, said: “The victim is understandably very shaken by what has happened.

“We urgently need to trace the man involved and to speak to anyone who was on the Falmer campus late on Friday night or early on Saturday morning.”

Police said they have been speaking to students and searching for the attacker.