Appeal after sexual assault near Avenue Campus

UPDATE: 13:45 23/08/13. Police have released an e-fit of the suspect who carried out the attack. He is a white man in his mid-twenties and is under 6ft tall, and is slim with short, natural blond hair.  He has a square head with a rounded chin, and he is said to look very young.  He spoke English. The man wore a dark trousers and a dark zip-up jacket over a white top on the night of the attack.

An appeal is being made for witnesses after a 16-year-old girl was sexually assaulted near Southampton Common on Tuesday 20th August. 

At about 11.40pm, after separating from her friend, the girl reached the ‘Y’ split in the path close to the underpass under The Avenue, near the university, and Lovers’ Walk. Here an unfamiliar man approached her and carried out the assault. The man then walked off towards The Common, and the girl went to her home, where police were called.

The man is described as a slim white man in his late twenties with short blonde hair and is 5ft 11ins tall. He wore a dark hoodie and trousers.

Detectives want to hear from anyone who saw a man of this description walking towards or on The Common shortly before midnight Tuesday. Anyone with information is asked to contact Southampton Central CID on 101.

Detectives also renewed their advice to women to avoid unlit, secluded areas at night, to be accompanied to their homes by a friend or to take a taxi home after similar attacks have been carried out in the area.