Woman attacked and raped

A woman has been attacked and raped in Heywood.

At around 1.25am on Wednesday 4 February 2015 police were called to Manchester Road, Heywood following reports that a 46-year-old woman had been attacked.

The victim was taken to Fairfield General Hospital, where she reported having been attacked at the junction of Birnam Grove and Argyle Street earlier on.

She had been approached by a stranger in the street who initially spoke to her before pushing her to the ground and raping her.

Police are now appealing to anyone who has information to come forward. In particular, police are keen to trace two men who stopped when they saw the woman in a distressed state and called the police for help.

These two men did not leave their details and police are keen to speak to them.

The offender is described as being white, about 19 or 20-years-old, of medium build, clean shaven and jaw-length mousey-brown hair. He was wearing a black beanie-style hat, and black zip-up hooded top and black trousers.

Detective Inspector Joanne Reid said: "This woman has suffered a terrifying ordeal at the hands of her attacker, and we are offering her as much support as she needs as she comes to terms with what has happened.

"Thanks to the work of staff at St Mary’s and trained officers within Greater Manchester Police, we are able to provide specialist care to anyone who has been a victim of rape or sexual assault and that is exactly what we are doing for this woman.

"The best peace of mind we can give this woman is to find her attacker so I am appealing to anyone who recognises the man in the above description to come forward.

"In particular, we want to speak to the two men who saw this woman near to Heywood Town Centre and called the police on her behalf. I want to stress these men are not suspects at all, we simply want to speak to them because in helping this woman they may have vital information that will help lead us to the culprit.

"If you did stop to help this woman then please call us.

"While I understand this incident will cause alarm in the community, I want to reassure people we are doing everything we can to establish the identity of this man and arrest him."

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101 or the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.