£5,000 reward offered to help find sex attacker who raped 13-year-old girl in cemetery

Police release CCTV of man captured walking nearby at around time victim was attacked

Officers keen to track man in image down to ask if he witnessed anything (Crimewatch)

A £5,000 reward has been offered for information on the rape of a 13-year-old girl in a cemetery, more than two years after the attack took place.

The young teenager was walking home from school in December 2019 when she was approached, and then attacked, by a male stranger off North Road in Retford, Nottinghamshire.

Officers maintain the assault occurred at around 3.30pm on 12 December – the same day as the general election that year.

Crimestoppers originally offered a reward of £1,000 but that has now been upped as police continue to try to find the attacker.

In a fresh push to bring the person responsible to justice, Lydia Patsalides, the charity’s East Midlands regional manager, released fresh comments on the case, describing the attack as “awful”.

“This is a heinous crime which should never have happened,” she said. “An innocent child has gone through a terrible ordeal which may sadly affect her for the rest of her life.”

Officers released CCTV of a man captured walking along Leafield, close to the cemetery at around the time the victim was attacked, and said they are keen to track him down to ask if he witnessed anything.

Detective Sergeant Neil Allsop, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “We would like to hear from anybody who was in the area and saw anything suspicious. This case may now be over two years old but the date may well stick in people’s minds as it coincided with the 2019 general election.”

He also said that anyone who might have witnessed someone “acting unusually in the area – either on that Thursday afternoon or on the days either side of the incident” should get in touch.

The force’s Detective Inspector Craig Hall added he was appealing to “anyone who may suspect or even know who the attacker may be to make contact”.

“Due to the nature of evidence recovered, officers are able to eliminate persons from this inquiry,” he said.

Anyone with information about this crime is encouraged to contact police by calling 101, quoting incident number 424 of 13 December 2019.

Alternatively, you can contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.