'Police put half-naked rape victim in minicab'

Police allegedly marched a rape victim who had been found crying in the street at 1am to a cab firm, and then made her pay the fare home.

The woman, said to be an executive who earns £70,000 a year, had been at a party on a Thames boat and was spotted by passers-by, slumped on a south London pavement.

They alerted two Pcs and asked them to assist the woman, who was wearing only a black T-shirt.

But instead of driving her to a hospital or a police station, the officers took her to a taxi firm close to Southwark Tube station. After it was found no one could collect her, the taxi firm agreed to take her home. The womanreported the incident, which took place on 4 July, the next day but investigators fear important forensic evidence may have been lost.

A senior source said: "It should have been clear that she may have been sexually assaulted. To top it off, they put her in a cab with another strange man."

Police think the woman may have been raped by an unlicensed taxi driver who dumped her in the street.

The Met today insisted the officers who were asked to help the woman were unaware she may have been raped.