Italy rape ordeal for woman sailor

A British first officer serving on a millionaire's luxury yacht was raped while the boat was undergoing repairs in an Italian harbour.

Police have not the named the 27-year-old woman or the 100ft yacht for legal reasons. The boat was on Friday still in a dry dock.

The woman was attacked after she had gone ashore with fellow crew members for a drink while the yacht was being repaired in yachtbroker's yard D'Amico, in Genoa harbour.

It had arrived there earlier this month and the woman and several members of the crew had gone into the popular old harbour district which is lined with waterside bars and restaurants for a night out.

The crew spent part of the evening at a bar called College before moving along the harbour to another venue, the Rosa dei Venti, popular with yacht hands.

In her statement to police the first officer said she had left the bar to find a tobacconist and that she may have been watched and followed by her attacker.

She said: "After I bought some cigarettes I returned to the bar to join my friends but went to the public toilet first. As I tried to close the door this maniac blocked it. He must have been watching me and followed me.

"He came into the cubicle and pushed me against the wall. He put one hand across my mouth and undressed me with the other. He then raped me and left."

The woman added that she had tried to scream several times for help but her desperate cries had been drowned out by the nearby bar's loud music.

After the attack the shocked victim, who is from the Merseyside area ran back to the yacht where she told crew members who had remained on board what had happened and police were called.