Boy, 14, arrested after ‘woman was raped in nightclub toilet’

A 14-year-old boy has been arrested after a woman was allegedly raped in a nightclub toilet.

The teen was held after the shocking incident at the Bloom club in Manchester's Gay Village in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

A woman and her friends told the cops they were approached by a teenager offering to sell them drugs at around 4.15am, and he went into the male toilets with the woman.

It's alleged the woman was raped inside one of the cubicles.

The woman is said to have texted her pals asking for help around twenty minutes later, who alerted club staff.

Security staff found the teen and he was detained outside the venue - but he was allowed to leave after the victim didn't want to alert the cops, according to a police report. But one of the victim's friends contacted the police around 5am to report the alleged rape and officers arrived at the nightclub. The 14-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of rape and taken into custody for questioning before being released on bail, cops said.

Speaking at a licensing hearing on Friday, PC Stuart Hammersley said detectives believe the teenager got into the club using a fake ID, Manchester Evening News reports.

And officers were also told that a security guard had gone into the toilets, knocked on the cubicle and realised there were two people inside - but he left without taking any action. PC Hammersley said: "I don't think anything was said to him specifically about what was going on, but obviously, it wouldn't be good practice for security to allow two people to remain in a toilet cubicle together without carrying out checks." The Gay Village club's licence has now been suspended ahead of a full review.

PC Hammersley said he was "shocked" the nightclub didn't contact the police after security found the teen and detained him outside the venue.

He said: "That's one of the most surprising things of everything that's gone on.

"If it was a very minor incident, if somebody had been pushed or punched and it's not a serious injury, and they didn't want the police involved, I can understand why they would take that on board and not necessarily contact us. "But given the grave nature of this, I'm shocked that they didn't contact us to say what had happened and to say they had this person detained and leave that for the victim's friend to contact us directly herself afterwards."

Speaking on behalf of the nightclub at the hearing, solicitor Stephanie Williams said the club "understands the seriousness of what happened" and is undertaking a "full investigation".

A spokesperson for Bloom added: "Due to the severity of an incident which occurred in the club on Wednesday, Bloom Manchester will be closed to allow for a complete investigation to take place.

"We are working with the police and giving every assistance possible and ask for our customers' understanding and patience at this time."

Credit: thesun.co.uk