Woman Raped After Night Out in Middleton

Police are appealing for witnesses after a woman was raped on her way home from a night out in Middleton on Monday night.

On Monday 19 April 2004, a 37-year-old woman was out with her husband in the Old Roebuck public house on Middleton Gardens in the town centre.

Early evening he left to go home, but she decided to stay out and go on to Wetherspoons with a group of men and women she'd met in the pub.

Shortly before closing time at 11pm, the group returned to the Old Roebuck and its from there that the woman started her journey home.

As she left to try to hail a taxi, one of the men in the group followed her outside, saying he was coming with her to make sure she was safe getting home.

In their search for a taxi, they walked to a nearby grassy area where the man raped her.

Following the attack, they both got into a taxi together and she was dropped off at her home in north Manchester before he continued with his journey.

DC Gina Parkinson from Middleton CID said:
"Because the victim only met the people she went out with on Monday afternoon, we are still appealing for help in finding the other members of the party who may be able to identify her attacker and probably know him."

"We would also like to speak to the taxi driver who perhaps remembers collecting a fare in Middleton and dropping a woman off in north Manchester, before taking a man somewhere else."

"His passenger would have been a white man, in his mid 30s, around 5'7, of stocky build, who spoke with a local accent. He had light brown hair cut short and was clean-shaven. He was wearing a T shirt in different shades of brown and dark coloured jeans."

Anyone with any information is asked to contact Middleton CID on 0161 856 8754 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.