Never an easy topic to discuss for fear of being branded racist but recently we had a 60 year old lady raped in York. Evidently she was approached by a man in the centre and they both walked for quite a while. Here's the press release:
Posted on 4 January 2018 at 15:38pm in News stories
Police investigating a serious sexual assault have released a description of the suspect.
A woman in her 60s was attacked in York on Tuesday, 2 January.
Detectives have today renewed their appeal for information as further details of the suspect have come to light.
He is described as around 5ft 9ins or 5ft 10ins tall and of thin build, with dark hair and a dark, olive complexion.
He possibly had a well-groomed beard.
He was wearing a dark-coloured baseball cap, with dark clothing and jeans.
The victim was with the man at around 7pm near Lendal Bridge. She then walked with the man, down the side of the River Ouse in the direction of Scarborough Bridge, passing the Esplanade car park and the Post Office building on her left hand side.
The victim and the man then crossed over Scarborough Bridge and, once over the bridge, continued walking alongside the river, out of town towards the back of St Peter’s school and Clifton Bridge.
When they approached the back of St Peter’s school, the man subjected the woman to a serious sexual and physical assault and stole money from her.
Detective Inspector Alan Rowan, who is leading the investigation for North Yorkshire Police, said: “Anyone who thinks they may know this man, or saw anyone matching his description in the area around the time of the incident, needs to come forward.
“This was a horrendous attack on a vulnerable woman, and any information, no matter how insignificant it may seem, could be very valuable to our investigation.”
Anyone with information should contact North Yorkshire Police on 101, select option 1 and speak to the Force Control Room. Please quote reference 12180001044.
Alternatively, Crimestoppers can be contacted anonymously on 0800 555 111.
My question at the time was did she speak with him (they did walk a fair way together) and what about his accent? It wasn't answered.
Today we get this release from them:
29-year-old Abrar Khan from #York has appeared in court charged with rape and robbery in relation to an attack in York on the evening of 2 January. He has been remanded in custody to appear at court again on 5 Feb. A man in his 30s arrested on 5 Jan will face no further action.
OK - it says he's from York but my question is why did they not release more details about him? Does he have a Yorkshire accent or not? Surely that would have enabled him to be caught sooner? How far should the police go to protect rapists - whatever their colour? If he had been a white man with a Scottish accent would they not have stated this?
Local rumour has it he's not actually from York but that he is staying in a local bail hostel. I have no idea if this is correct or not but the one mentioned is not too far from where the attack happened.
Any thoughts on this? Do the police have a right to withhold info if they think it might cause unrest in the city (York is probably one of the most forgiving cities in Yorkshire I think)? I guess I already know the answer to that.