Arrest after attempted rape in Cheltenham

POLICE were questioning a man last night on suspicion of attempted rape after a woman was attacked in a residential street.

A member of the public called 999 at 6.40pm on Monday evening to report an attack on a woman just off Robert Burns Avenue.

The attacker had threatened his victim and is thought to have hit her before being disturbed by the person who made the emergency call.

He then ran away into the nearby park. Police undertook an extensive search of the area after the attack, and members of the public are being urged to come forward if they have any information.

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Detectives yesterday went through CCTV footage from the area and carried out house to house inquiries.

The attack has left community leaders alarmed.

Councillor Roger Whyborn (LD, Up Hatherley) described the area as ordinarily safe.

He said: "This is normally an area that is thought of as somewhere that is safe to walk the streets, so this is most unusual and obviously very shocking.

"There has actually been a drop in crime in this area. This is most unusual."

Stuart Fowler, chair of Up Hatherley parish council, stressed the incident took place outside the parish boundaries but also said it was shocking for something like this to have occurred in a quiet residential area.

Shocked

He said: "I am surprised and shocked because we have had a pretty good record here in the last two or three years.

"It is an area that is regularly attended by police community support officers.

"These things don't happen very regularly but when they do they command attention.

"People can make the mistake that the whole place is going to the dogs, but that is not the case."

Immediately after the attack police appealed for help, asking people to get in touch if someone they knew had come home "flustered or keen to wash their clothes".

The attack comes less than a month after a similar incident where a 22-year-old woman was targeted as she walked along Brunswick Street in the early hours of Sunday, February 3.

However, police have said they do not believe there to be any link between the two incidents.

Police have arrested a 42-year-old man on suspicion of attempted rape in connection with the Robert Burns Avenue incident. He was still in police custody as the Echo went to press last night.