Police investigate rape and 'racially motivated' attack on woman in England

BRITISH POLICE ARE investigating a “racially motivated attack” after a Sikh woman was reportedly raped in the West Midlands and told: “You don’t belong in this country.”

The victim, reported to be a British-born woman aged in her 20s, told officers a racist remark was made to her during the attack in the town of Oldbury, west of Birmingham city, on Tuesday morning.

The incident was reported to West Midlands Police just before 8.30am that same day.

Police said they are looking for two men in connection with the attack, which happened against a backdrop of anti-immigration protests and rising tensions around the use of the hotels for asylum seekers across the UK.

The Sikh Federation in the UK said the perpetrators allegedly told the woman during the attack, which it said happened between 8am and 8.30am: “You don’t belong in this country, get out.”

The force said officers want to speak to anyone who may have seen two white men in the area – the first is described as having a shaved head and a heavy build, and was wearing a dark sweatshirt with gloves on, and the second was reportedly wearing a grey top with a silver zip.

Police said they are treating it as an “isolated incident” but understand the “anger and worry” it has caused the community.

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Yesterday, a police cordon at the site, which had been in place at the edge of an area of grassland near an overbridge close to the M5 motorway, had been lifted.

Chief Superintendent Kim Madill, of Sandwell Police, said: “We are working really hard to identify those responsible, with CCTV, forensic and other inquiries well under way.

“We fully understand the anger and worry that this has caused, and I am speaking to people in the community today to reassure them that we are doing everything we can to identify and arrest those responsible.”

Madill added that such incidents are “incredibly rare”, but said locals can expect to see extra patrols in the area in response.

Dabinderjit Singh, the lead executive for political engagement at the Sikh Federation, said the attack took place in “broad daylight on a busy road”, and Sikh Youth UK is supporting the victim and her family.

“Politicians from all political parties should have zero tolerance for all violent racist attacks,” Singh said.

“The current racist political environment is driven by popularism and created by politicians playing the anti-immigration card who are unashamedly exploiting those with right-wing and racist views.”

Singh criticised the response of politicians to the reported attack, saying the Sikh community awaited “public condemnation by politicians on all sides”.