REWARD: Nottinghamshire police offer up £5k for help in catching a sex attacker

A reward for information that helps catch a sex attacker has been increased.

The independent charity Crimestoppers is appealing for the public to contact them 100% anonymously if they have any information on the serious sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl in Nottinghamshire.

The incident happened in a cemetery off North Road, Retford, at around 3.30pm on Thursday 12 December 2019, the date of the general election that year. The female victim was walking alone through the cemetery when she was approached by a stranger and attacked.

Last year, Nottinghamshire Police released CCTV footage of a man walking along Leafield, close to the cemetery at around the time the victim was attacked. Detectives would like to identify and trace him to help with their investigations.

Crimestoppers supported police by offering a reward of £1,000 for information that helps catch the offender. That reward has now been increased. The charity has announced it is now offering up to £5,000 for anonymous information it receives - via its website Crimestoppers-uk.org or by phone on 0800 555 111 - that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for the serious sexual assault.

Lydia Patsalides, East Midlands Regional Manager at the charity Crimestoppers, said: “This is an awful, heinous crime which should never have happened. An innocent child has gone through a terrible ordeal which may sadly affect her for the rest of her life. We know it can be difficult to speak up about someone you suspect may be involved in a serious crime, especially if they are close to you. This is why our charity is here to help.

An innocent child has gone through a terrible ordeal which may sadly affect her for the rest of her life.

“Crimestoppers gives people the option to remain completely anonymous when telling us what they know. We have kept this promise since we started back in the late 1980s. Around half a million people contact our charity every year to pass on their crime information.

“If you know anything about this crime, I urge you to speak to us completely anonymously. Call our UK Contact Centre, which is open 24/7 on freephone number 0800 555 111 or use our simple and secure anonymous online form at www.crimestoppers-uk.org. Nobody will know you contacted us and you will be doing the right thing for the young victim. No piece of information is too small to tell us.”

Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Inspector Craig Hall from Nottinghamshire Police, added: “We would like to hear from anyone who was in the area at the time and may have seen anything suspicious. This case may now be over two years old but the date may well stick in people’s minds as it coincided with the 2019 general election.

“I am appealing for anyone who may suspect or even know who the attacker may be to make contact. Due to the nature of evidence recovered, officers are able to eliminate persons from this enquiry.

“On behalf of Nottinghamshire Police, I would like to thank Crimestoppers for their continued support and the £5,000 reward for information that helps catch the offender of the terrible attack on this young female.”

Computer IP addresses are never traced and no-one will ever know you contacted Crimestoppers. For telephone calls, there is no caller line display, no 1471 facility and calls have never been traced.