Sleep-walker raped

The attack happened after the 48-year-old got up and walked out of the house and down the road.
She later told detectives that she had been accosted and raped during the incident.
Police have confirmed they are investigating the claims and said officers from Operation Sapphire, the Metropolitan Police’s specialist rape investigation, were involved.

The woman victim, understood to be a child carer, had been at a dinner party with friends at a house in Ruislip, north London.  It is believed she decided to spend the night, along with other guests, and had gone to bed around midnight.
A source, who asked not to be named, said the woman then reportedly left the house and was raped while out on the road.

“She suffers from somnambulism which means that she sometimes gets and sleep-walks in the middle of the night,” the source said.
“She was at a friend’s house and apparently she went out of the house in Ruislip and walked around the streets, unaware of what she was doing.”
A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police confirmed that detectives were investigating ‘an allegation of sexual assault’ and that forensic investigations were continuing.

“We are not prepared to give many details of this incident to protect the vulnerable victim,” said the spokesman.
“Detectives from Operation Sapphire are investigating the incident which happened shortly before 4am in the morning on June 27.

“Because of the circumstances in which it happened, we are not even sure where the sex attack happened —at this stage we are just saying Ruislip.”
It was understood that specialist rape counsellors assisted by specially trained detectives have interviewed the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

Forensic samples were also taken from the victim in the hope of tracing DNA and the offender.
“We are giving very few details of this case because we are most anxious that nothing should be published which might identify this woman,” the police spokesman said. — Daily Mail.