A man who throws animal semen on schoolgirls is being hunted by police today following the latest attack.

Detectives in Bury, Greater Manchester, described the assaults as "disgusting" with the same suspect following the unsuspecting teenage girls and some of them later discovering they had been smeared with the liquid.

There have now been six separate incidents, the first last November and the latest just last week, but police have now issued a CCTV image of a man they wish to speak to.

Det Insp Lynne Vernon, from Greater Manchester Police, said: "We have six separate incidents and do not know the motivation behind them - while we do not want people to be frightened unnecessarily, we are taking these reports seriously.

"None of the victims was physically harmed in anyway but this is still a disgusting act and the person responsible must be caught.

"I'd ask people to take a good look at this image and if you know anything about this man, please contact us.

"He is not necessarily connected to all of the incidents but we would like to speak to him as part of our inquiries"

The first victim, a 14-year-old girl, was walking along Kennedy Drive in Unsworth, Bury, around 3.20pm on Friday November 13 last year.

After getting off the bus home from school she was followed down a ginnel by a man who asked her the time and was standing uncomfortably close to her.

When she arrived at home, she noticed a sticky liquid on the back of her tights.

The substance was analysed by police and later identified as animal semen.

Between 8.05am and 8.20am on Monday December 7, a 15-year-old schoolgirl was walking along with her sister and was approached from behind by a man on Ostrich Lane, Prestwich.

She felt a liquid on the back of her tights and the man walked off between her and her sister and away from the girls.

Also between 8.05am and 8.20am that day, another 15-year-old girl walked past a man who turned around and followed her on to St Mary's Road.

Just after 4pm on Thursday December 17, a 14-year-old girl was in a shop on Mill Gate, Bury, with her mother when a man bumped into her and wiped a white substance on her bottom.

At about 2pm the next day, a man followed two 13-year-old girls on Bury Old Road, near to the M60 in Prestwich.

In the latest attack, shortly before 9am on Monday January 25, a man approached two girls, aged 15 and 16, on Pinfold Lane, Whitefield, and asked them the time.

As they walked away one of the girls noticed liquid dripping from her skirt.

In each incident, the offender was described as being a white man, aged between 25 and 35 and was carrying a bag.

On a couple of occasions, he was wearing a hat, possibly with earflaps.