'Vicious' sex attack on woman walking home

A businesswoman was beaten and sexually assaulted in what police described as a "vicious and unprovoked" attack.

Her injuries were so severe that she lost consciousness before being assaulted in a side street off a busy Fulham road.

Today police warned the attacker may strike again. The man pounced as his 30-year-old victim walked home after missing her bus.

He dragged the blood-soaked woman into a side road off North End Road and carried out a sexual assault as she lay between two cars. Officers say he would have left the scene covered in blood.

Detective Sergeant Charlie Hodge of Fulham Police said: "We are looking for a very nasty, desperate and reckless individual. To attack a woman like that on a busy London street shows how desperate he must be.

Police say the woman, who is still receiving medical treatment, had been to a function at Fulham Town Hall on Sunday night and decided to walk to a friend's house after missing her bus home.

She stopped at a Kentucky Fried Chicken takeaway for food at about 12.30am and was attacked when she reached the junction of North End Road and Archel Road.

The man then dragged her to a basement where her 20-minute ordeal continued. She was afterwards able to stagger into the street and alert passers-by.

Det Sgt Hodge continued: "This was a very, very nasty attack. It was so severe that she was lucky we are not dealing with a murder inquiry."

Another person might not have survived such severe injuries, Det Sgt Hodge said. Detectives fear her attacker might have smashed her head against a kerbstone. "It's possible he tried to kill her, or he just didn't care. From the amount of blood she lost, he is likely to have been covered in it.

"It was a vicious and totally unprovoked assault on a professional woman who was walking along minding her own business."

The suspect was described as a white man, between 5ft 7in and 6ft 1in, of medium build and was wearing dark clothing with short spiky hair shaved at the sides.

Anyone with information can call Fulham CID on 020 8246 2885 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.