Police described it as 'disturbing and unpleasant' due to its 'sexual nature'

Someone intervened but he returned with another and they threw the liquid

She wound down her window and he groped her and hurled abuse at her

A woman was sexually assaulted in a Tesco car park and soaked with a 'unidentified liquid' while she was out shopping with her baby.

The woman, 23, was looking for a space when the two men reached through her window, groped her and hurled abuse as her child sat in the back of the car.

Someone intervened but the men then returned with bottles and hurled a mystery liquid at the shaken victim, in what police described as a 'disturbing incident'.

The woman, 23, was looking for a space when the two men reached through her window, groped her and hurled abuse as her child sat in the back of the car at Tesco (pictured) in Three Bridges, West Sussex

The woman told police how one man got out of the black Range Rover outside the Tesco Extra store in Three Bridges, West Sussex, and she wound her window down.

As he groped her and shouted at her, a stranger intervened and challenged the man, but he ignored her and went back to the Range Rover.

He returned with another man who had been sat in the passenger seat, and they both approached the victim clutching Lucozade bottles.

They chucked the drinks in her face, before getting back in the car and driving away from the supermarket. Police confirmed that the liquid was not Lucozade.

Two men returned with Lucozade bottles and threw the contents - which police called an 'unidentified liquid' - over the young mother

PC Gemma Sutton, who is leading the investigation, said: 'This was a most unpleasant and disturbing incident, not least due to the sexual nature of the assault and the presence of the victim's young child.

'We would like to contact the unknown woman who intervened and also anyone else who saw what happened or who knows who these men are.'

Both suspects are described as being of Indian appearance. One was about 5ft 8ins tall, of chubby build and wearing a grey zipped up hooded top.