Lancashire Police are looking for a "chubby man", possibly with a foreign accent, as well as a Vauxhall Astra in the hunt for a gang of up to four men who were involved in the rape of a woman in an alley in the village of Colne.

The 23-year-old victim was dragged into an alley and raped by at least two men after being attacked from behind while she walked along Tennyson Road shortly before 11pm on Saturday 6 February.

All of the suspects were wearing hats, police believe, and some of them spoke in foreign accents. One may have been wearing a waterproof coat while one of the offenders is described as dark skinned and being about 6ft tall. Another man is said to be "chubby".

Officers are conducting a number of enquiries in the area, including house-to-house, CCTV and forensic enquiries as part of the on-going investigation. They are especially keen to trace a silver or grey Vauxhall Astra which was seen acting suspiciously on Tennyson Road at about 9.40pm.

They are also keen to hear from anyone who was in the McDonald's on North Valley Road at about 10.40pm when the victim walked past. DCI Joanne McHugh, from the Force Major Investigation Team, said: "Our investigation into this serious incident is on-going and we have a number of lines of enquiry that we are following.

"We continue to work closely with the victim, who has been through an extremely traumatic experience, and she is being supported by specially trained officers at this time. We are appealing to anyone with any information that could assist with our investigation to come forward and contact us as soon as possible.

"The concern about what's happened understandably remains high in the community and I would like to stress again that incidents like this are rare and that we are doing all we can to trace those responsible."

If anyone has any information that could assist with the on-going investigation, they can call police on 101 quoting log 1523 of 6th February. Alternatively Crimestoppers can be contacted anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at Crimestoppers-uk.org.