Police appeal after woman raped

Police are appealing for witnesses after a 23-year-old woman was raped in Smethwick.

The woman was attacked in the early hours of Sunday morning on Thimblemill Recreation Ground, Thimblemill Road.

She was on her way home after a night out in Birmingham city centre when she was dragged into a wooded area and attacked.

West Midlands Police have issued descriptions of a number of people who were in the area and may have vital information.

This was an appalling offence committed in a violent and brutal manner and the assailant is clearly a danger to women. DCI Graeme Pallister

The victim had got off the bus in Bearwood, chatted to her friend and then walked alone along Thimblemill Road and past the Thimblemill Pub just before the attack.

Police want to speak to a white man, aged in his early 20s, with brown hair who was eating a bag of chips near to the Abbey Pub.

They also want to speak to two white men and a white woman who were carrying a fold-up mattress bed and the occupants of a white car which pulled up as the victim was walking along Thimblemill Road.

Detective Chief Inspector Graeme Pallister, from West Midlands Police, said it was important that all of these people were traced.

"It is possible that the attacker was already following the victim and any one of these people may have seen something," he said.

"This was an appalling offence committed in a violent and brutal manner and the assailant is clearly a danger to women."

The offender is described as a black man, aged in his late teens to early 20s and of slim build.