Public response to rapes praised

Artist's impressions of men wanted by police In pictures

A police force investigating a series of rapes and attempted abductions in Northampton praised members of the public for their "excellent" response.

Police have received nearly 1,500 hits on their website from people wanting more information about the five attacks on women between 31 July and 8 August.

More than 2,000 people have called the incident room over the past two weeks.

In the past 24 hours, 40 people have also called a hotline about artist's impressions released on Thursday.

Detective Inspector Tom Thompson said: "Officers are continuing to follow up a large number of leads and that includes information which has been passed to us in the last 24 hours, specifically about the artist's impressions.

Hotline now closed

"The response from the public has been excellent and there has been a huge appetite for information through our website which has received nearly 1,500 hits on the Operation Harbour pages.

"We are continuing to appealing to anyone who hasn't already contacted us who has any information about the offenders or about the dark 7-series BMW or light Fiat Punto to contact us as soon as possible."

The section of the force's internet site created specifically for Operation Harbour has been visited some 1,457 times.

The special hotline has now closed, but people can still contact the main incident room.