A 19-year-old woman was sexually assaulted in the early hours of Sunday morning on Westbury Crescent in the Cowley area of the city.
The victim was punched several times in the head, pushed to the ground and sexually assaulted before she managed to escape and run off in the direction of Rose Hill Road.
The incident was Oxford’s fifth sexual assault in 8 days with four previous attacks on young female students from both Oxford University and Oxford Brookes.
Two women aged 21 and 24 were attacked between Southfield Road and Cowley Road in the early hours of Sunday 29th May and two more women, 19 and 20, were assaulted in a similar area in the early hours of last Thursday.
Police originally thought the five incidents may all be connected however, in the latest Thames Valley Police report, Detective Inspector Simon Morton said, “certain details have come to light that has led us to believe that the attacker in this incident is different from the man who carried out the previous attacks.”
The police have now released two e-fits of the men they would like to question in relation to these attacks.
The attacker who is believed to have carried out the first four assaults is described as “oriental or Asian, in his twenties, about 5ft 8ins to 5ft 10ins, of a slim to medium build with short black hair, possibly in tight curls”.
The latest attacker is believed to be in his late 20s, possibly Albanian, about 5ft 6in, clean shaven, of medium build, with dark hair and olive skin and is believed to have a bite-mark on his hand resulting from one of the attacks.
Many students have received emails from their colleges warning young women to avoid walking alone at night especially in the Cowley area.
