Police issue appeal over 1987 railway rape

Police have launched a major appeal after a woman came forward to report being raped twice nearly 40 years ago - first at a railway station and again on a train.

The woman had been travelling to a relative's house in Hull on a Friday evening in December 1987. She had got on a train at Stevenage, but it was stopped and all passengers were told to get off at Newark Northgate in Nottinghamshire.

British Transport Police (BTP) said the victim - aged 16 at the time - had been assaulted after encountering a group of men, who said they were in the British Army, while she waited on the platform.

The woman, now in her 50s and living abroad, reported being raped by one of the men in September 2025.

BTP shared the woman's account in an appeal it issued on Wednesday.

Warning: This story contains distressing details

After being asked to leave the train, BTP said the woman had remembered an announcement that there would be a two-hour delay for the next train due to snowy conditions.

As she waited on the platform, a group of young men approached and stood near her.

One of them vocally complained about the delay before telling her to go to a nearby pub with them, BTP added.

Thinking it would be safer than standing on the platform on her own, BTP said she had reluctantly decided to go with them.

At the pub, the man told the victim he and his group were soldiers in the British Army and he bought her a Coke, which she recalled tasted funny.

He encouraged her to drink it before buying her another, BTP said.

The woman next remembered being back at the railway station with her feet "dragging along the ground" as several men supported her along the platform.

BTP said the group had then lowered her on to the tracks and she was raped by another man, who was not the one who told her to go to the pub and bought her the drink.

After the attack, she was pulled back on to the platform and recalled being back on the train, crammed between the men in a vestibule.

She was then pushed into a toilet and raped by the same man again, BTP said.

When the train pulled into Doncaster, the victim saw her chance to escape the group and said she needed to check the train timetable for her connection.

She saw her train to Hull and boarded, BTP said, sitting between people to obscure herself.

The woman said she remembered looking out the window and seeing one of the group on the platform "frantically trying to spot her" before her train pulled out of the station.

Det Supt Sam Blackburn, who is leading the investigation, said there were about six men in the group, all with crew cuts and carrying canvas bags.

He said: "Some stood and watched, and no-one at all intervened.

"The victim was only a child. Were you there? Has this been on your conscience for all these years? Can you do the right thing now and come forward with what you know?

"Alternatively, were you in the British Army at the time and did you hear about this incident through the grapevine? Do you know the men responsible and can you tell us their names?

"Any fragment of information, no matter how small, can help us."

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