A teacher seeking refuge from domestic violence says she was raped after being mistaken for a prostitute in Britain’s first official red light zone.

Alice who was living in a refuge next to the zone in Leeds says she was bundled into a car one night by four men before being raped by one of them at a nearby house.

The disclosure will intensify pressure for the “managed zone” in Holbeck to be closed down as evidence mounts that it has increased violence against women while kerb crawlers escape prosecution.

Alice, who was recovering from mental ill health after her domestic violence trauma, says she was devastated when police decided not to prosecute the man they arrested because it was claimed there was not enough evidence to secure a successful prosecution.

It is understood the Crown Prosecution Service was consulted and at least one police officer was unhappy with the decision. Alice claims the alleged rapist was bailed before the three other “attackers” were interviewed two weeks after the incident.

She has decided to speak out because she says the authorities are placing vulnerable women like herself in an unsafe area in Holbeck. Her refuge hostel was just half a mile from the zone where kerb crawling, soliciting and loitering, which are normally illegal, are permitted between 8pm and 6am.