Police in New York are hunting for a man who set fire to a Scottish Muslim tourist’s clothes while she was shopping on Fifth Avenue.

The 36-year-old woman was browsing the boutiques on Saturday evening when she felt heat on her arm. She looked down and realised her blouse had been set on fire.

“She saw the suspect pull a lighter away and walk away,” a police source told The New York Daily News. “He doesn’t say anything.”

The woman, who was unharmed, went to the police – who published photographs showing the suspect swaggering along East 54th Street, minutes after the attack. The young black man is wearing a black sleeveless vest, black trousers and a hat.