Man, 32, arrested after 'racially aggravated' rape

A 32-year-old man has been arrested after a woman was raped in Walsall in a suspected racially aggravated attack.

West Midlands Police said the man was detained early on Monday morning in the Perry Barr area of the town.

The arrest comes after an urgent appeal by police over the weekend, following the alleged incident on Saturday night.

Officers were called to the Park Hall area of Walsall just after 7.15pm after a woman was seen in distress in the street.

The force said the woman, in her 20s, had been raped and assaulted at a nearby property by a man she did not know.

It said the incident was being treated as "racially aggravated".

Detective Superintendent Ronan Tyrer, of West Midlands Police, said: "This is a significant development in our investigation, and I'd like to thank everyone who has come forward with information following our appeal last night.

"Our investigation will progress today, and, as always our priority is the woman who was the subject of this attack.

"She has been updated this morning and will continue to receive full support from specially trained officers."

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Preet Kaur Gill, the Labour (Co-op) MP for Birmingham Edgbaston, posted on X to say she was "deeply shocked and saddened" to hear of another racially aggravated rape.

Last month, a Sikh woman was raped in grassland in Tame Road, Oldbury, in an incident also treated as racially aggravated by police.

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