Leeds bus stop rape: 'Very disturbing' CCTV footage shows victim beaten over the head with rock 'many' times

West Yorkshire Police are now treating the incident as attempted murder

File image of the bus stop in Beeston Road where the attack is thought to have taken place (Google Street View)

Leeds police have seized CCTV footage that shows a rape victim being dragged from a bus stop, beaten “many times” over the head with a blunt object, sexually assaulted and left for dead.

The 18-year-old victim miraculously survived the sustained attack, which police are now treating as attempted murder.

Officers are choosing not to release the footage, which they say “clearly shows the very disturbing circumstances of the offence”, though not in sufficient quality to identify the perpetrator.

“The victim is seen being carried away a short distance while struggling against her attacker who takes her into a nearby garden,” said West Yorkshire Police’s Detective Superintendent Nick Wallen.

“He can then be seen striking her over the head numerous times with a blunt object that we believe to have been a large stone.”

Det Supt Wallen said the traumatised victim was bravely helping to put together a picture of what the suspect looked like from her hospital bed.

“Her injuries are serious but thankfully not life threatening and she has been left very badly traumatised by the ordeal,” he said.

The attacker, who is believed to have taken the brick or large rock used in the attack with him when he fled from the Beeston Road attack onto Parkfield Avenue, was described as Asian or Middle Eastern, in his early twenties, slim with receding black hair.

And after the ex-BNP leader Nick Griffin seized on the attack to decry “mass immigration”, Det Supt Wallen told the Daily Mirror the victim was also of Asian origin to avoid “unhelpful” speculation that the attack was racially motived.

Det Supt Wallen added: “We would like to hear from anyone who witnessed the incident or who may have seen the suspect in the area at any time that evening. If you were the person seen running we would like you to come forward.

“We would also like to trace a potential witness - a woman who was seen standing at the bus stop before the incident before getting on either a number 1 or number 74 bus.

“This was a shocking incident which is unprecedented both for this area and for Leeds as whole. I appreciate it will understandably cause people in the community a good deal of concern.”

Police said the incident took place around 10.52pm at a bus stop in Beeston Road, near to the junction with Tempest Road, on the night of 6 March. Anyone with any information that could assist the investigation was asked to contact the Homicide and Major Enquiry Team on 01924 334710 or via 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.