A British skier has told for the first time how she was abducted by three men in the French Alps and raped before being dumped at the roadside in the snow.
Hannah Power had lost her bearings on a night out when the men reassured her they were friends of a friend and could get her home.
Instead, they drove her to a secluded spot where the driver raped her while the other two stood by smoking.
But Hannah is convinced the attack could have been much worse – and fears the men are likely to have struck again after police abandoned their hunt.
Hannah said: “I think all three were planning to do it.
“The driver turned around and raped me on the back seat. I was fighting and kicking him.
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“There was this voice in my head that said everything was going to be okay, keep fighting.
“It would have been heavily unpleasant for him, how much I was kicking and punching.
“I think they decided, ‘This isn’t as easy as we thought… let’s get rid of her’.”
Law graduate Hannah, 26, added: “The bit I don’t like is it could happen to others and there’s nothing I can do.
“That’s much more painful to me than me personally not getting my justice.
“Who knows if these guys are driving from town to town? It felt like they’d done it before. They were pretty soulless.”
Hannah had gone to spend a week with friends working in the resort of Morzine, and had headed home early from a club.
She said: “I left around midnight but got lost on the way – it was only 500 metres. Everything’s the same in the snow.
“I’d walked for 40 minutes. A car pulled over with three guys, they said, ‘Where are you going?’
“I said, ‘To my friend’s chalet’ and they said, ‘We know her, we’ll give you a ride.’ It sounds silly, but it was a really close-knit community – I’d met so many people.”
When she realised the car was leaving town, Hannah knew something was wrong.
She said: “I started to scream and beg, ‘Let me out’. They pretended not to understand.
“I thought they wanted to kill me. I was begging for my life.”
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After the attack, she was driven back to town.
Hannah said: “They pulled over and took my phone. I got out and they chucked my Timberlands and tights at me.
“I had bare feet and bare legs. I walked up the hill towards the light, screaming for help.”
But after going to hospital, Hannah was stunned by the lack of police interest in the attack. She said: “They had my clothes and tests, but the case was dropped four months later.
“There was no big plea for witnesses. It was like a crime that went away.”
Hannah, who has waived her right to anonymity, suffered PTSD from the attack in March 2016, but has tackled it head-on by helping other rape victims.
She said: “I’ve helped people who reached out to me, one was attacked abroad shortly after me. I knew how she’d be feeling.
“One thing that makes you feel most alone is when even those who love you don’t know what to say. Remove the stigma and we remove the loneliness.”
Personal branding specialist Hannah, of Farnham, Surrey, has launched a jewellery range including a Karma necklace, for which she gives £30 from each sale to the Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Centre.
She said: “I’m not going to have my life ruined by this. I’m going to talk about it. I’m going to listen to sad songs and cry.
“The quicker I can let the pain in, the quicker it will leave.”
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