Attacks on two women prompt police hunt

Police said both incidents involved the women being grabbed from behind and threatened with a sharp object held to their necks while they walked alone

Police investigating two linked assaults on lone women in villages near Nuneaton have said one of the incidents is now being treated as a sexual attack.

The assaults happened in Ansley and Arley earlier this month.

Warwickshire Police described the main suspect as having long dark hair, tanned skin, stubble and a foreign accent, possibly Eastern European.

Police have appealed for a driver of a grey or silver Volvo-type car with two dogs, possibly lurchers, who stopped on Wood Lane in Arley to check on one of the women on 22 October, to come forward.

That woman, who had been walking her dog at about 13:30 BST, had been grabbed from behind with a sharp object held to her neck. She noticed another man in a black car nearby.

Police said this incident was being investigated by detectives as a sexual assault.

The previous incident took place at Ansley Village Recreation Ground at about 23:00 BST on 18 October, when a woman had a sharp object held to her neck before her dog ran over and the attacker fled.

The force said its major investigations unit was "working around the clock" to find and speak to witnesses, scan CCTV footage and comb through recent reports of suspicious activity in the area.

It added that officers had "identified several lines of inquiry that they're progressing" and they remained on patrol in the area to reassure the community.