Rape victim may have had drink spiked, police say
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A woman walking home was raped and left in a field after apparently having her drink spiked, police said yesterday. The 26-year-old woman was attacked after a night out in Towcester, Northamptonshire, on Boxing Day.
A woman walking home was raped and left in a field after apparently having her drink spiked, police said yesterday. The 26-year-old woman was attacked after a night out in Towcester, Northamptonshire, on Boxing Day.
She left a pub at about midnight to make the short walk home on foot but was spotted barefoot and distressed in a different area of town one hour later. The woman, who found herself on a field 12 miles from her home at 5am on Saturday, flagged down a police car near the old Towcester Football Club ground and told officers she had been raped.
Northamptonshire Police said she accepted a lift from two men in a dark-coloured car, possibly a VW Golf, with leather interior. A police spokeswoman said forensic scientists were in the process of determining if her drink had been spiked to induce her memory loss. She said: "After [the woman] had been medically examined, it became apparent that her drink may have been tampered with and spiked with another substance."
Detective Constable John Thorogood, of Daventry CID, added: "We strongly suspect at this stage that her drink may have been spiked with another substance, possibly a drug of some kind, although it may take many weeks before we can say that for sure. Despite this, it seems that she has been the victim of an extremely nasty attack and we are asking anyone with any information about what might have happened to her to get in touch with us."
Detectives were seeking more information about the car and wanted to locate the two men to help with inquiries.