A MAJOR manhunt is under way after a 21-year-old woman was abducted in broad daylight from a Suffolk supermarket car park and raped in a terrifying three-hour ordeal.

Dave Gooderham

A MAJOR manhunt is under way after a 21-year-old woman was abducted in broad daylight from a Suffolk supermarket car park and raped in a terrifying three-hour ordeal.

The sex attacker, believed to be in his 60s, had asked the young victim to help him load some bags into his car at the Tesco superstore in Brandon.

But when the Good Samaritan agreed to help, she was bundled into the 4x4, driven off and raped, before being dumped on a nearby industrial estate hours later.

Last night, Suffolk police said they were treating the allegation “extremely seriously”.

A large section of the store's car park in London Road was cordoned off while scenes of crime officers examined the area.

Shoppers there yesterday were still reeling with shock as they spoke to the EADT just yards from the site of the horrifying abduction.

One woman, who did not want to be named, said: "Brandon is quite a close knit community where everyone pretty much knows everyone.

"It makes this kind of thing even more shocking. You hear about things like this happening in bigger places but not in a small town like this. I just can't believe it has happened."

The woman told police she was in the car park at about 2.15pm on Saturday when she was asked by a man for help with his bags.

The woman was then threatened and pushed into his vehicle. The man then drove her to another location where he subjected her to a serious sexual assault before returning her to Wimbledon Avenue, Brandon at about 5.30pm, when police were alerted.

Lesley-Ann Blood, who lives close to the industrial estate where the woman was dumped, said: "This is a nice place and it is such a shock. I have never heard of anything like this happening in Brandon before.

“The industrial estate pretty much operates from Monday to Friday.”

Detectives appealed to anyone with information, particularly those who were in the Tesco car park and may have seen anything suspicious between noon and 3pm on Saturday, to call 01473 613500.