Tourist raped while smoking outside Covent Garden restaurant

A tourist having a cigarette outside a restaurant in Covent Garden was dragged from the street and raped in an alleyway.

The 25-year-old German woman was outside the Paradiso E Inferno restaurant in the Strand when she was grabbed and dragged down Southampton Street and into an alleyway off Maiden Lane where she was attacked.

Police say the area was crowded with people at 11pm on Friday and the woman shouted for help during her ordeal.

The victim was staying at a hotel nearby and had been having a meal at the restaurant when she went outside for a cigarette. She staggered back to her hotel where she raised the alarm.

The suspect is described as a black man in his early thirties, about 6ft tall and plump. He was wearing a red baseball cap with a white emblem, dark blue jeans, a black hooded top and black trainers.

Any witnesses or anyone with information should call the Metropolitan Police Service on 0300 123 1212 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.