SPEAKING to the Warrington Guardian, a 30–year–old woman relives the horror of the night when she was raped by a stranger.

“My friends warned me not to leave the party that night by myself, but I did, and I have regretted it ever since.”

This is the story of Hannah Richards (name changed to protect identity) who is still coming to terms with being raped in the summer of 1995 as she walked home alone from a party.

She said: “I was 16 years old and I had been to a party at one of my friends’ houses.

“I had been wearing my favourite dress, I used to think the shorter the better back then, and I was very drunk.

“I used to think ‘rape – that’s not something that’s ever going to happen to me’, but I was wrong.

“I remember staggering home and struggling to walk in my high heels when I became aware of a man walking quite closely behind me.

“At first I wasn’t bothered by him but something clicked that something wasn’t right and it dawned on me that he was following me.

“Just at that moment he made his move and pulled me behind some bushes. I didn’t have time to scream before he shoved a rag in my mouth, making me gag.

“He was very strong and he pinned me to the floor, pushing my face into the ground and kneeling on my wrists to keep my arms down.

“I was terrified, I thought he was going to kill me and then I blacked out because of the pain.

“When I came around my attacker had gone. He’d taken the rag, my knickers, my dignity and my life as I’d known it.

“All I remember was he was wearing dark clothing. I never saw his face and he didn’t say a word.

“I ran home as fast as I could incase he came back again. I kept falling over in my rush to get back to safety as I was looking behind me all the time incase he was following me again.

“When I got home the house was empty as my parents had gone on holiday and my older brother had stayed out thinking I was going to stay with my friend.

“I scrubbed myself all over until I was red raw and sobbed myself to sleep on the bathroom floor.

“For a few moments when I woke up the next day all I felt was a terrible hangover and then I remembered what had happened and saw the bruises on my wrists.

“My friends’ words have haunted me ever since – I felt so stupid for walking home alone along dark streets in the early hours of the morning.

“I decided not to report it to the police as I was too ashamed to tell anyone and I don’t ever want to see him again. My parents still don’t know what happened but I have told my boyfriend as I had trouble with the idea of having sex afterwards.

“I went to my doctor the next day and said I’d had an unprotected one night stand. He gave me the morning after pill and tested me for STDs and AIDS.

“Mercifully they came back negative.

“It changed me from an extrovert into someone who hated having any attention directed toward me.

“Not long after it happened I cut my hair really short and started to comfort eat, telling my parents it was the pressures of studying for A–Levels.

“They would be devastated if they knew the truth.

“Going to university helped me a lot and I have re–gained a lot of my confidence. I recently took the decision to go to my local rape advice centre and I am considering going to see a counsellor.

“I can’t change what happened but I can change how I cope with it.”