A night-clubber was recovering in hospital yesterday (Tuesday) after she was seriously sexually assaulted on the way home from Sinatra's in West Croydon on Saturday.

The 28-year-old woman, who was visiting Croydon, was dragged down some steps and into an alley where Whitehorse Road crosses a railway line in Thornton Heath at 3am.

Police hunting her bloodstained attacker, who she had met earlier near Pawsons Road, described the attack as sickening.

DC Matt Robins told the Guardian: "This is a particularly vicious and motiveless attack that we are doing everything to solve."

The woman managed to make her way back to her lodgings where she was immediately taken by ambulance to Mayday Hospital.

The attacker is described as black, between 20 and 25-years-old and 5ft 8ins tall.

Anyone who witnessed the attack or heard the woman's screams is urged to contact DC Robins on 0181 649 1247.

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