Police appeal for witnesses after a woman was raped at country park

Police were called to Rising Sun County Park at around 4.10pm on Monday, March 28, after a report of a woman in a distressed state was made to police.

The 63-year-old woman reported she had been raped by an unknown man near the Pit Heap area of the park.

Detectives have been carrying out extensive enquiries since and there have been extra patrols in the area to provide reassurance.

Officers are now appealing to the public to help locate the offender and have released a description given by the victim.

He is described as being white male, in his late 20s or early 30s, spoke with a local North East accent, between 5ft 6ins and 5ft 10ins tall, medium build, clean shaven, and possibly wearing a dark or grey hoody and bottoms.

Detective Chief Inspector Shelley Hudson believes that those who use the park may have information which could assist with enquiries.

She said: "Firstly and most importantly, I want to praise the bravery of the victim at this extremely difficult time. We continue to support her in any way we can and our priority is to find the offender.

"We have had teams working tirelessly since Monday on this investigation and we are now appealing to those who use this park regularly, or were in the area at the time, to help with our enquiries.

"This incident happened in daylight hours in a busy park used regularly by dog walkers, cyclists, joggers and people enjoying the scenery.

"The victim has now courageously been able to provide us with a description and we are hoping that this, along with local knowledge, someone may have a vital piece of information that could help us identify the man responsible."

She added: “Incidents of this nature are rare in this area, but when the do occur we are committed to using every tactic to bring offenders to justice.

“There will continue to be an increased police presence in the area and we would ask anyone who has concerns to speak to one of our officers.”

Anyone who has any information should contact police on 101 quoting reference NP-20220328-0700 or contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.