A VICIOUS rapist attacked a lone woman motorist after jumping into her car when she stopped at town centre traffic lights.

The 40-year-old mother was threatened and forced to drive into a secluded ginnel after her attacker struck at the traffic lights under Darwen Street Bridge, just after 10pm on Tuesday.

Police believe the sinister rapist may have been hiding in wait for a woman to stop before pouncing.

The victim was attacked as she drove to pick up her boyfriend from work. She was driving a beige and white Triumph Acclaim car through the town when the rapist jumped in the passenger seat when she stopped for a red light.

He forced her out of the vehicle into a ginnel, between the railway bridge and a secondhand shop, only yards from the traffic lights before subjecting her to a rape and serious sexual assault.

The woman's ordeal ended when the rapist was disturbed by a passer-by who made a comment about the couple as he walked past on a footpath less than 10 yards away.

The woman got back into the car and reversed back onto Darwen Street before driving off. She alerted police when she returned home to the Fleetwood area.

Acting Detective Chief Inspector Neil Smith, of Blackburn CID, today called the attack a sustained and vicious assault on a respectable working mother.

He said: "We want to speak to anyone who may have witnessed this attack, particularly any person who walked past and saw what they thought was a courting couple and passed comment on them. "We also want to speak to anyone who may have seen the vehicle, particularly as it was reversing back out of the ginnel on to the traffic light junction."

The rapist, who smelled of drink and spoke with a local accent, is thought to be in his early 20s, about 5ft 10in tall and very slim.

He had short, dark brown, tidy hair and was clean shaven, with a 2in to 3in mark or scar at the side of his left eye which appeared to have been caused recently.

He had a pale, greyish complexion and wore a shiny black jacket which went below his hips, a red and black checked lumberjack-type shirt, dark jeans and dark shoes.

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