Crawley rape appeal seven years after attack

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-33298347

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Detectives investigating a rape that took place seven years ago have released an image of a man they want to trace.

Sussex Police said the attack happened in Crawley in May 2008 but the woman had only just come forward.

Det Sgt Pete Yarrow said the victim had been badly affected by the rape and struggled to come to terms with it over the past seven years.

He said: "She has now gathered the courage to contact us."

The woman, who was 19 at the time, was grabbed shortly after midnight in Quantock Close while she was walking home after a night out with friends on 16 May that year.

The man attacked her at the entrance to the underpass that runs beneath the A23 and raped her in bushes.

He is described as white, aged about 35, of medium build and about 6ft 3ins (1.9m), with a tattoo on his chest and wearing Jean Paul Gaultier fragrance.