Police say there was no rape by gang of men on the grounds of St Mary's Church, Banbury, 28 Sep, 2025,

[dotr]

POLICE SAY THERE WAS NO RAPE OR ATTACK. CLICK HERE TO SKIP AHEAD TO POLICE STATEMENT


28 September 2025, 12:54 BST
Updated 4 hours ago

'A woman has been raped by a group of men in a churchyard in Banbury.
The woman, in her 30s, was attacked in the grounds of St Mary's Church and the surrounding area of the town centre in the early hours of Sunday morning, Thames Valley Police said.
The force is appealing for another woman, who may have tried to help the victim, to come forward.''Police say there was no rape by gang of men on the grounds of St Mary's Church, Banbury, 28 Sep, 2025,

 

[dotr]

rbbm.

Woman 'gang raped in churchyard by group of men'

The woman in her 30s was raped at St Mary's Church's churchyard in Banbury, Oxfordshire, and in the surrounding areas in the town centre in the early hours of Sunday morning.

www.dailymail.co.uk

'The force are searching for witnesses or anyone with information in relation to the rape.

They will be conducting house to house and CCTV enquiries as they hunt for the perpetrators.

Investigating officer, Detective Sergeant Mark Personius said: 'This is a horrific crime and Thames Valley Police is conducting a thorough investigation to identify the offenders.

'We are supporting the victim with specifically trained officers at this extremely difficult time.

'I am making a public appeal to a specific witness, a woman, who we believe may have tried to help the victim.'

'At this stage we don't have a description of this Good Samaritan. However, if you believe you are the woman, please contact the police as you may have vital information that can help us piece together what happened.

'The town centre would have been busy on a Saturday night into the early hours of a Sunday morning. Therefore, I would also appeal to anyone else who saw or heard anything in the area between about 12am and 2.30am this morning to come forward.''

 

[tedtink]

28 September 2025, 12:54 BST
Updated 4 hours ago

Woman raped by group of men in Banbury churchyard - BBC News

The woman, in her 30s, was attacked in the grounds of St Mary's Church in Banbury, police say.

www.bbc.com

View attachment 617016
'A woman has been raped by a group of men in a churchyard in Banbury.
The woman, in her 30s, was attacked in the grounds of St Mary's Church and the surrounding area of the town centre in the early hours of Sunday morning, Thames Valley Police said.
The force is appealing for another woman, who may have tried to help the victim, to come forward.''

Poor woman, what grabbed my attention here was ....

"was raped by a group of men at St Mary’s Church’s churchyard and surrounding area in the town centre in the early hours of this morning (28/9)."

So in different locations by a group of men - like being hunted imo. Horrific.

 

[dotr]

Published:11:4128/09/2025

https://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/news/thames-valley/news/2025/september/22-09-25/appeal-in-connection-with-a-rape--banbury/

''Thames Valley Police is appealing for a specific witness as well as anyone else with information or footage in connection with a rape in Banbury.

The victim, a woman in her thirties, was raped by a group of men at St Mary’s Church’s churchyard and surrounding area in the town centre in the early hours of this morning (28/9).

Investigating officer, Detective Sergeant Mark Personius said: “This is a horrific crime and Thames Valley Police is conducting a thorough investigation to identify the offenders.

“We are supporting the victim with specifically trained officers at this extremely difficult time.

“I am making a public appeal to a specific witness, a woman, who we believe may have tried to help the victim. At this stage we don’t have a description of this Good Samaritan. However, if you believe you are the woman, please contact the police as you may have vital information that can help us piece together what happened.

“The town centre would have been busy on a Saturday night into the early hours of a Sunday morning. Therefore, I would also appeal to anyone else who saw or heard anything in the area between about 12am and 2.30am this morning to come forward.

“Please check any CCTV, dashcam or mobile phone footage you have from the area and if you have captured anything that you think may help us, please get in touch.

“You can contact the force by speaking to an officer at the scene, calling 101 or via a dedicated webpage for this investigation, where you can leave any footage from the area. The investigation reference number is 43250495078.

“There is a scenewatch in place at the church to enable us to carry our forensic examinations. We will also be conducting house to house and CCTV enquiries.

“I would like to thank local residents and businesses for their ongoing support while we are in the area carrying out our investigation.”

JW

 

[Lucy6226]

This poor woman. I hope they catch the men responsible, they are monsters

 

[outback]

They took a bunch of risks attacking the victim in the open like this.

Investigaters seem to have a large amount of time 12-2:30am for witnesses to come forward. That poor victim had to experience hell for a long time.

The woman who tried to help her is probably scared to come forward.

Let's hope they are caught soon.

Jmo

 

[outback]

Poor woman, what grabbed my attention here was ....

"was raped by a group of men at St Mary’s Church’s churchyard and surrounding area in the town centre in the early hours of this morning (28/9)."

So in different locations by a group of men - like being hunted imo. H

Hunted is really the right word.

Jmo

 

[dotr]

Woman raped by group of men in Oxfordshire churchyard

The woman, who is in her 30s, was attacked in the early hours of Sunday morning. Police are urging a woman who tried to stop the attack to come forward.

news.sky.com

Woman 'gang raped in churchyard by group of men'

The woman in her 30s was raped at St Mary's Church's churchyard in Banbury, Oxfordshire, and in the surrounding areas in the town centre in the early hours of Sunday morning.

www.dailymail.co.uk

''St Mary's Church said in a statement: 'Due to an incident in the churchyard last night, we currently have no access to church. It is with deep regret that we are therefore having to cancel today's parish Eucharist. Please pray for those affected by whatever happened last night.'
It later added: 'We are deeply saddened to hear of this incident and are praying for the victim.''

 

[sunspun]

Surely the victim was able to provide at least minimal descriptions for these "men", but unless I missed it, none were provided to the public beyond them being MALE. <sigh> I suppose this is probably a conscious decision on the part of LE in the interest of political correctness or fear of sowing (more) division in the community.

 

[Sarahlou]

Surely the victim was able to provide at least minimal descriptions for these "men", but unless I missed it, none were provided to the public beyond them being MALE. <sigh> I suppose this is probably a conscious decision on the part of LE in the interest of political correctness or fear of sowing (more) division in the community.

Maybe she wasn't in any fit state to remember what happened or is too traumatised to give details to the police at the moment. They also say they don't have a description of the woman who tried to help yet.

 

[Hexe]

They took a bunch of risks attacking the victim in the open like this.

Considering it happened in wee hours of Sunday morning I am pretty sure the attackers were not sober. Not that it diminishes their responsibility in any way.

 

[Hexe]

Surely the victim was able to provide at least minimal descriptions for these "men", but unless I missed it, none were provided to the public beyond them being MALE. <sigh> I suppose this is probably a conscious decision on the part of LE in the interest of political correctness or fear of sowing (more) division in the community.

She was raped brutally by multiple men so she is surely in deep shock, highly traumatised and potentially requiring sedatives. Shock and trauma can blur, or even erase memories so, boldly assuming she is even capable of talking to the police now, she might not remember much more than that they were male. I doubt it has anything to do with political correctness.

 

[Sarahlou]

A woman aged in her 30s was attacked by a group of men at the churchyard of St Mary's Church in Banbury during the early hours of Sunday morning, September 28.

No specifics have been released on all men, or how many they are looking for, but have confirmed one of the men is white.

A police spokesman said: "We only have a description that one of the men was white

Suspect's ethnicity released after woman is gang raped by men

Police have released the ethnicity of one of the suspects that are looking for after a woman was gang raped.

www.thisisoxfordshire.co.uk

 

[MollyHarps]

Thoughts are with the woman - [mod edit]

As a women it’s a sad state of affairs when you can’t be safe walking home at night.

The part about a women trying to help i dont really understand - surely if somebody tried to help but couldn’t they’d get themselves to safety and then call the police?

 

[dotr]

https://www.itv.com/news/meridian/2025-09-28/woman-raped-in-churchyard-by-a-group-of-men

'There is a police presence at the church to enable forensic examinations.
Detectives are also conducting house to house enquiries.'
rbbm.

Town 'horrified' as woman is gang raped by men at churchyard

A town has been left "horrified" after a woman was gang raped in a churchyard by a group of men.

www.bicesteradvertiser.net

“Please check any CCTV, dashcam or mobile phone footage you have from the area and if you have captured anything that you think may help us, please get in touch.
“You can contact the force by speaking to an officer at the scene, calling 101 or via a dedicated webpage for this investigation, where you can leave any footage from the area."

''Mr Okeke added: "[Police] have started a program called ‘A walk in the park’. This is a programme where members of the community meet police officers at the park and discuss any concerns or incidents they experience.

"On October 26, they will be at the Princess Diana Park, and November 2 and 21 will be Ruscote Park and People's Park respectively.'

"I would encourage the members of the community to take advantage of the programme to support the police in addressing crimes in our community."

 

[Lucy6226]

Some people just want to presume it's 'the immigrants'. The UK is disgusting at the moment imo. Does it matter what ethnicity these men were? Is a 'group of White/Black/Asian men' for example really going to narrow it down?

This poor woman was raped by multiple men. At night, probably in the pitch black, graveyards don't tend to be lit and street lighting is mostly LEDs now which only light directly below them. They could have covered their faces with scarves and heads, she could have been forced on her front. The trauma alone would make one not remember ethnicity let alone the logistics of it!! She has identified them as men. People who know them might have seen them come home dirty or with scratches. Hopefully there will be DNA and CCTV evidence being processed, they clearly followed her.

All MOO.

 

[Lucy6226]

Thoughts are with the woman - I think descriptions and timings are likely ‘slightly vague’ as the women was likely drunk moo.

As a women it’s a sad state of affairs when you can’t be safe walking home at night.

The part about a women trying to help i dont really understand - surely if somebody tried to help but couldn’t they’d get themselves to safety and then call the police?

Maybe she lived near by and is terrified she'd be identified by the group? It would have been a traumatic thing to witness and hopefully she will come forward once gathers the courage

 

[Hexe]

Maybe she lived near by and is terrified she'd be identified by the group? It would have been a traumatic thing to witness and hopefully she will come forward once gathers the courage

That's what I am thinking. Banbury is not very big, some 52 000 souls in there, so there is a good chance the Samaritan Lady knows at least one of the attackers.

 

[tedtink]

I know Banbury well. The Church is set back just off the main road, in the town centre. The Church yard is sometimes used as a cut through from the main shopping/ pub/ socialising area. Not saying this is what the victim was doing, but just some local knowledge as we used to nip through it to get to the bus stop years ago.
Banbury is also a hub for nights out for others from towns and villages in the local area.
Will link a map later.

 

[dotr]

Police launch hunt for 'white man' after woman 'gang raped' by church

The woman, in her 30s, was attacked at St Mary's Church's churchyard in Banbury, Oxfordshire, and in the surrounding areas of the town centre on Sunday morning.

www.dailymail.co.uk

''They say they only have one description relating to the white man and are 'working tirelessly to identify the offenders and will share more with the public as soon as we can'.

''In recent months, police have been inconsistent on disclosing the ethnicity of a suspect. When a car ploughed into Liverpool FC's trophy parade in May, police rushed to say a white man had been arrested.''

''Nearby residents said St Mary's churchyard was a hive of anti-social behaviour both before and after dark.
One single mother living in a flat overlooking the churchyard said: 'You often hear screams from there but it's difficult to know if they are being caused by people, perhaps making their way home from the nightclub around the corner, or from foxes. We do get lots of foxes in the churchyard.'

'You often get a group of Polish men sat there (in the church yard) drinking in the afternoon. It is not a pleasant place sometimes – I have seen kids as young as ten doing drugs in there and I've had men snorting cocaine off the lid of my wheelie bin before'