Teenagers held over canal rape

Three teenagers were being questioned by detectives last night over the gang rape of a woman who was stripped of her clothes and thrown into a canal.

Three teenagers were being questioned by detectives last night over the gang rape of a woman who was stripped of her clothes and thrown into a canal.

They were being interviewed at three separate police stations in London.

A 15-year-old boy and 15-year-old girl were arrested at their homes at 8am, and at midday officers from the Metropolitan Police swooped on another address to arrest a 16-year-old boy.

The youths were arrested in connection with an attack in the early hours of 22 July on the towpath of the Grand Union canal in the Ladbroke Grove area of west London.

A 37-year-old woman was thrown into the canal and, when she climbed out, raped by three youths before she was forced to flee the scene naked.

The rapists were encouraged by their female companions, police said at the time.