POLICE officers were today preparing to search a York churchyard in connection with a serious sexual assault.
St Martin's Church, in Micklegate, has been cordoned off since the early hours of yesterday.
North Yorkshire Police spokesman Tony Lidgate said reports were received yesterday lunchtime that a woman had been seriously sexually assaulted in an ally near the church.
The assault is thought to have taken place in the early hours of the morning.
Scenes of crime officers will make a detailed forensic search of the area later today.
Sergeant Neil Wilkinson, of North Yorkshire Police, said the area would remain sealed off until a search team became available.
Sgt Wilkinson said: "Normally it would not have been cordoned off for as long as that, but we're waiting for a qualified search team to arrive."
Police are still hunting a "hoodie" rapist who dragged his victim into a churchyard at St Oswald's Church, in Fulford, York, in August.
Updated: 10:12 Monday, November 14, 2005
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