Police Investigate Serious Sexual Assault
Police in Southampton are investigating an allegation of serious sexual assault against a 20 year old woman in Portswood, Southampton.
The alleged incident occurred at around 10.30pm last night (Thursday 8th March) in an alleyway next to Portswood Cycles in St Denys Road.
The 20 year old student was walking home from a friends house in Church Lane towards Portswood Road and then onto St Denys Road. The woman was grabbed from behind by a man who pushed her to the floor. He threatened her and said he had a knife, althoughone wasn’t seen. He then sexually assaulted her but ran off when voices were heard approaching them.
Police have cordoned off the access points to the alleyway which runs between St Denys Road and Westridge Road to enable Scenes of Crime officers to gather any forensic evidence.
The woman described her attacker as:
Approx 5ft 8ins tall
He was wearing a leather or hard material black jacket and his face was covered.
He spoke with what is described as a foreign accent.
Detective Sergeant Tom Orchard said: “This is a distressing offence for anyone to endure and has understandably left this woman severely traumatised. We would appeal to anyone who can assist us with our enquiries to come forward and assist us in identifyingthe perpetrator and bring him to justice. Someone must know him and it is very likely that someone saw him in the area. If you saw a man matching the description exiting either end of the alleyway, please contact us.
The officer added: “We would also like to remind anyone walking alone, especially at night, to be constantly aware of their surroundings and to contact us immediately to report anything or anyone they consider to be suspicious. We are keeping an openmind about this assault and are unable to say whether it is linked to other recent incidents of indecent assault against women in Southampton.”
Anyone with Information should phone 101 or the Crimestoppers charity line anonymously on 0800 555 111.
