Lucy was kidnapped, gang raped - and then cruelly betrayed by the British justice system

In 2011, Lucy Walsh was abducted by three men after a night out

They raped her repeatedly, laughing when she cried out



Two were convicted and sentenced; police are looking for the third attacker

But the two successfully appealed and were given less prison time

And one of them was granted British citizenship while in jail

Fearful for her safety with an attacker still at large, Lucy has fled to Canada



Lucy Walsh woke up in a dimly lit, grubby room she didn't recognise. She quickly realised, to her horror, that she was naked, and that she was not alone.

A man was on top of her, pinning her to the floor, while another raped her. There were others there, too, talking in a foreign language, and laughing when she screamed in terror and pain. The 24-year-old was subjected to a horrific two-hour attack, as the men took it in turns to rape her.

It's a story that will strike horror into the hearts of parents and young women everywhere: a young local government officer whose only 'crime' was to find herself momentarily alone in a town centre in the early hours.

Driven away: As a result of her ordeals, Lucy has moved to Canada

But the repercussions for Lucy went far beyond the physical injuries she sustained that night. It would destroy her faith in her country and its legal system, which she'd always trusted to protect her, but which seemed to her to favour the rights of her attackers above hers.

Her ordeal was described by a judge as 'among the worst to have come before this court in recent years' - yet in a sick irony, one of her attackers was granted British citizenship as he awaited trial.

It's probably not surprising to hear that Lucy has moved almost 4,000 miles away to Canada, and says: 'I don't know if I can ever come back to Britain.'

That evening, in June 2011, she'd enjoyed a fun night with friends at a club in Preston, Lancashire. When she decided to call it a night, and walked alone the short distance to a taxi rank outside, no one was concerned. It was something Lucy, and thousands of young women, do without thinking every weekend.

'The town was well-lit and lots of people were milling around, so I felt safe,' she says.

Lucy's confidence was tragically misplaced, however, since two Kurdish men - Rezgar Nouri, 27, and Mohammed Ibrahim, 23 (a third - Araz Latif Najmaden, 21 - is still wanted in connection with the attack) had seen her in the nightclub and followed her out, and were caught by the club's CCTV cameras.

Attackers: Rezgar Nouri, 27, and Mohammed Ibrahim, 23, laughed as they repeatedly raped Lucy



What happened next is a blur. Though there is no evidence that Lucy was drugged, all she remembers is waking up, terrified, and being raped.

'I kept blacking out, falling in and out of consciousness. The men weren't speaking English, and they just laughed at me when I cried out.

'Another came in then and dragged me roughly by my wrists into another room. I thanked him, thinking in my confusion that he was rescuing me, but he just laughed and then raped me, too.

'It was surreal, and I was convinced I was going to die. I kept thinking of my parents, my brother and sister, and wondered how they would cope.'

Eventually one of the men threw Lucy into a bathroom where, bizarrely, she found her clothes neatly folded with her shoes placed on top of them.

'I was shaking terribly but I pulled them on, then the man called Nouri yanked my hair, pulled me down some stairs and threw me out onto the street.'

Desperate to get help and disorientated, Lucy realised she must have left her phone in the room where she had been raped.

'I can't explain why I went back upstairs to find my phone,' she admits. But, in her confusion and distress, she did. The door was unlocked and she crept in, spotting her phone in the bed sheets, but as she went to pick it up, Nouri grabbed her and raped her again, before shoving her back out on the street.





'I kept blacking out, falling in and out of consciousness. The men weren't speaking English, and they just laughed at me when I cried out.'



'When I tried to stand up I was crippled by such agonising pain that I collapsed,' Lucy recalls.

'I recognised where I was - round the corner from the train station - and started crawling towards it on my hands and knees. By then I was hysterical.'

At Preston Royal Hospital, doctors found she had suffered such severe internal injuries that it was four days before they could fully examine her.

'I couldn't stand up, and I was covered from head to foot in bruises,' she says.

It was at 7am that two police officers knocked on the door of the five-bedroom farmhouse in the Lancashire countryside where Lucy lived with her parents, Iain and Kay, to break the horrific news about their daughter.

Kay, 50, a company director, recalls: 'I remember standing there in my dressing gown as one of the officers explained that Lucy had been sexually assaulted.

'When he said she was in hospital, I felt sick. I knew something terribly serious had happened.'

Businessman Iain, also 50, stayed at home with the police, while Kay drove to the hospital.

'To see Lucy curled up in pain, and shuffling along like a 90-year-old woman, was heartbreaking,' Kay recalls.

Wanted: Araz Latif Najmaden, 22, is wanted in connection with the attack

'It was all the more shocking because I'd never had any worries about Lucy. She's a sensible girl.'

Lucy adds: 'I wept when Mum arrived. I felt so humiliated and ashamed of myself, as though I'd let my parents down.

'The doctor handed me some tablets - the morning-after pill, and medication to prevent HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.'

When CCTV footage led to the arrest of Nouri and Ibrahim, Lucy and her family had every right to expect that justice would be done.

To begin with, it felt as if it had. At first, Nouri claimed never to have seen Lucy, and Ibrahim said she had consented to sex. But faced with overwhelming CCTV and forensic evidence, both men pleaded guilty at Preston Crown Court in November 2011 to two counts of rape, and were given indeterminate sentences. Judge Anthony Russell said: 'This was a sustained attack and was particularly degrading, because throughout it the people perpetrating the offences were laughing.'

The effect on Lucy was devastating. She says: 'It was a huge relief that I didn't have to give evidence in court. After the rape, I'd gone to pieces. For a long time I blamed myself.

'While I had been drinking, I was more than capable of getting a taxi and certainly didn't pass out through alcohol.

Separation: 'I long to have Lucy back here where she belongs,' says Lucy's mum Kay, centre, with Lucy and Lucy's father Iain

'I'd also been wearing very sensible clothes that night - black trousers and a black top - with no make-up and my glasses on, but I kept thinking it must have been something I'd done.

'I worked as a housing liaison officer and my job involved talking to people in their homes. Afterwards, I couldn't face visiting strangers, so I had to leave.'

Lucy's private life suffered too. Her 18-month relationship with her boyfriend collapsed because she was struggling to cope, and she found herself crying inconsolably for hours on end.

But if Lucy gained any solace from not having to relive her ordeal in court, her feelings were quickly replaced by anger and frustration.

While the police promised not to rest until they'd arrested the third alleged assailant - identified by them as illegal immigrant Araz Latif Najmaden, 21 - he has never been traced.

Kay says: 'The way it seems to us is that the police are so worried about upsetting the local immigrant community that they have done little to track this man down and allowed him to walk free.'

Then in June 2012 Ibrahim and Nouri appealed against their indeterminate sentences, which were changed to 12 years - but they could be freed in half that.

Kay says she is outraged by the appeal judges' decision.

'Those men have never shown a shred of remorse or said sorry for what they did to Lucy. What about her rights?'

Suffering: Lucy's 18-month relationship with her boyfriend collapsed because she was struggling to cope

Even more shocking was when they learned that while 23-year-old illegal immigrant Mohammed Ibrahim was in prison awaiting trial for the rape, he had been granted British citizenship - a process that had been started before his arrest.

Ibrahim has since had his citizenship revoked. The family claim this only happened after they put pressure on the authorities - however the Home Office claims that it occurred automatically because he was found guilty.

By then, Lucy was taking antidepressants and sleeping tablets to help her cope, refusing to sleep with a window open even on the hottest of nights because of her fears about security.

She was so panic-stricken that a man suspected of being one of her attackers was still at large that, in January, she decided to leave Britain to try to start a new life overseas.

She moved to live in Ontario, Canada, where she now works as a nanny.

Lucy says: 'I truly believe that had the third man been white, the police would have made more effort to find him.

'To me, it feels as if they didn't want to make waves and upset the immigrant community.'

She adds: 'My whole family has been affected, I've been forced to leave my home country, and I don't know if I can ever have a relationship with a man again.'

Lancashire Police claim they have made 'extensive inquiries' in their efforts to locate Najmaden, who they confirm is wanted in connection with the attack and is also wanted by UK Border Agency.

The Home Office has said that when they have served their sentences, Nouri and Ibrahim will be deported.

But the Walsh family remains sceptical. Kay says: 'Having seen how the immigration system works, we have lost all faith in British justice. Who's to say these men won't claim asylum, saying their lives will be in danger if they go back to their own country, and end up staying here after all?'

Although Kay is in daily contact with Lucy, she believes her daughter won't come home to Britain until she can be assured that all the men who attacked her have left the country.