There is no information to link the rape of a woman by a group of men in a Banbury churchyard to migrant accommodation, police have said as they attempt to quell online speculation.
The woman, who is in her 30s, was raped by a group of men in the grounds of St Mary’s church and the surrounding area of Banbury town centre overnight on Saturday, Thames Valley police said.
One of the offenders was reportedly a white man, the force has said.
In a later statement, the force said: “We are aware of speculation circulating regarding the possible ethnic background or origin of the individuals connected to this incident. At this stage we have no further verified description of those involved, and any assumptions being made are unfounded and unhelpful to the investigation.”
It added: “We can confirm there is no information at this stage to link this investigation to migrant accommodation. We urge the public to refrain from speculation.”
Officers have previously appealed for a “good samaritan” woman who tried to stop the attack to come forward.
DS Mark Personius said: “This is a horrific crime and Thames Valley police is conducting a thorough investigation to identify the offenders. We are supporting the victim with specifically trained officers at this extremely difficult time.
“The town centre would have been busy on a Saturday night into the early hours of a Sunday morning. Therefore I would appeal to anyone else who saw or heard anything in the area between about 12am and 2.30am to come forward.”
The church cancelled Sunday’s parish Eucharist. The Rev Serena Tajima told the BBC that the church was “greatly saddened to hear of the horrific incident that happened at our graveyard”.
She said: “Our prayers are with the victim at this difficult time.” She added: “We had our early music festival that weekend and … to think that only a few hours later this awful thing was happening, it just makes it even worse.”
