POLICE are hunting a man who raped a 13-year-old girl.

The youngster was attacked in a doorway in a street running down the side of a Middlesbrough pub, where she had been drinking with a friend of the same age.

Detectives have security camera film of the girl leaving the Purple Onion pub with a man.

It is alleged that the rape took place minutes later, at about 12.15am on Sunday.

Police are examining footage from seven cameras outside the pub and security cameras from inside the premises.

The victim told her parents she was staying overnight at a friend's. The girls had spent one to two hours in the pub.

A Cleveland Police spokeswoman said: "Sometime towards the end of the evening the pair have lost each other.

"The friend then began to search for the other girl and subsequently found her in the public house crying. At this stage, the disclosure was made by the girl to her friend that she had been raped.

"It is believed that the rape took place in a doorway in Elliot Street, which runs down the side of the Purple Onion.''

The girl, who is recovering from her ordeal at home with her parents, has admitted to police to having a couple of alcopops to drink while in the pub, but was not drunk.

She has shoulder-length, straight blonde hair, was wearing high-heeled beige strap sandals, a short denim skirt with a ruffle and a black chiffon-type sleeveless top, which was off one shoulder, with a bra strap showing over the bare shoulder.

The man she was seen leaving the pub with wore a white top and dark trousers, and detectives are urging him to come forward.

Acting Detective Sergeant Neil Robinson said: "We need to speak to him as a matter of urgency. We need to establish his version of events.

"We are very confident about identifying him. There are a number of cameras on the outside of the building, about seven in total, and some high-quality digital cameras inside the premises.

"I have no doubts that the person responsible for the rape has been in the Purple Onion."

Police are anxious to speak to people who were in the pub and to anyone, particularly men, who spoke to the girls.

Anyone who can help is asked to call police on (01642) 301558.