A man who subjected a teenage girl and a woman to “sustained sexual assaults” on buses in west London is being hunted by police.

On August 1 at around 4.40pm, a 17-year-old girl boarded a 316 bus in Cricklewood and sat on the lower deck towards the back of the bus.

Around 15 minutes later in Kilburn, a man boarded the bus and sat next to the teenager, before opening up a newspaper on his lap and sexually assaulting her.

The 17-year-old confronted the man before getting up and sitting in a different seat on the bus.

Officers from Metropolitan Police believe the man, who is thought to be in his 40s or 50s, got off the bus in the Notting Hill Gate area.

In the second incident, on August 28 at around 1.30pm, a woman boarded a 36 bus in Westminster, heading towards the West End.

A man boarded the bus shortly after and sat next to the victim, who is in her 40s.

He then subjected her to a “prolonged sexual assault” after opening a newspaper on his lap.

Police want to speak to this man in connection with the two sexual assaults

Metropolitan Police's Roads and Transport Command is now investigating and has released an image of the man officers would like to speak to.

The man is described as a white man, of medium build and around 6ft tall.

In both instances, he wore a black baseball cap with a white logo, a black t-shirt and dark coloured trousers and boots.

The two sexual assaults took place on August 1 and August 28

On Tuesday (November 21), the force appealed for information following the assaults, which PC Sarah Bunting said left the victims “shaken and distressed”.

“These two victims were subjected to a sustained sexual assault, and their vulnerability was taken advantage of in a public setting," she said.

“They have both been left shaken and distressed by what's happened to them.

“We believe that the same man is responsible for both attacks, and we need the public's help to trace him.

“If you recognise the man in the CCTV still images, we would urge you to get in touch right away.”

If you have information to help with the investigation, call the Roads and Transport Command on 101, on Twitter via @MetCC, or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Keep up to date with the latest news in west London via the free getwestlondon app.

You can set up your app to see all the latest news and events from your area, plus receive push notifications for breaking news.

Available to download from the App Store or Google Play for Android .