Oxfordshire News
Drivers may hold clues to sex attack
9:30am Thursday 23rd February 2012
DETECTIVES yesterday retraced the steps of a 17-year-old sexual assault victim in the hope that passing motorists may help them catch the attacker.
The teenager was grabbed from behind by a stranger and sexually assaulted in Sandy Lane West, Littlemore, as she walked to visit her grandmother on Saturday evening.
Her black leggings were ripped off in the attack and she was forced to flee bare-legged and clutching one of her Ugg boots along the road towards Blackbird Leys.
Now police officers are calling on anyone in the area close to Spring Lane between 7.15pm and 7.50pm on Saturday to come forward.
Standing on the spot where the attack took place, Det Sgt Ian Wood said: “She’s still very traumatised and very upset.
“She’s got good family support and we are remaining in close contact with her and her family.”
Dc Steve Martin said motorists on the busy cut-through may have seen the victim, who was wearing an olive-green thigh-length parka-style jacket with the fur trim hood up, before or after the assault. “She would have been pretty noticeable with bare legs,” Dc Martin said.
The 17-year-old’s leggings were later recovered by police.
As well as house-to-house inquiries and scouring CCTV cameras close by, detectives are seeking a key witness to the minutes before the attack.
Det Sgt Wood said: “The victim remembers seeing a white man standing on Sandy Lane West shortly before the incident happened, wearing an Oxford United tracksuit.
“Was this you? If it was we would be very keen to speak to you.”
Inquiries are being made with Oxford United to see if the man trains regularly and can be identified.
The attack is not being linked to other high-profile assaults recently. Officers believe the attacker was acting opportunistically when he saw the victim by herself rather than having a set plan to attack a woman that night.
Dc Martin said: “There’s no indication that he tried to take her anywhere else. We believe that he wasn’t lying in wait.”
The attacker is described as black, in his late 20s to early 30s, about 6ft tall, of a thin build and clean-shaven and he spoke with a deep voice.
He was wearing a dark striped beanie hat, a black shiny padded jacket, dark wide-leg jeans with a distinctive white or light-coloured line pattern on the right back pocket and black trainers, possibly Nike Air-style with a hole in the heel and a fluorescent green band round the back of the heel.
Anyone with information should call Ds Wood or Dc Steve Martin on 101 or the charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.