A YOUNG shop assistant has been left traumatised after being abducted in a busy Southampton street and sexually assaulted in nearby gardens.

The 17-year-old was heading to a bus stop in Portswood after work when she was abducted.

Detectives said the man marched the teenager into Highfield Lane and through to a secluded area of private gardens and allotments where the terrifying assault took place.

The girl was kidnapped just yards from where murder victim Hannah Foster, also 17, was abducted in March.

Police said there were no links with the Hannah inquiry.

Detectives said the teenage shop-girl had been so badly affected that she had been unable to say exactly when the attack had happened.

She reported the incident - believed to have taken place during the first three weeks in May - only last week.

Detectives believe she was attacked some time after 5.45pm as she walked to a bus stop in Old St Denys Road.

Police said a man had forced her to walk along St Denys Road over Portswood Road and along Highfield Lane. At times, he may have had his arm around her shoulder.

A few hundred feet into Highfield Lane, they turned left into a driveway and into a little-known garden area.

The victim believed her attacker could have travelled on the same number six bus as her previously - either the 7.45am from Merry Oak to Portswood or the 5.50pm from Portswood to Merry Oak.

Det Insp Richard Pearson of Bitterne CID said: "This is a particularly vicious and cowardly assault which has left this young woman feeling extremely traumatised.

The attacker was white, in his 30s, with short cropped hair and may have a mark on his neck. He wore dark clothing and possibly a bomber-style jacket.

Police said the victim was slim with shoulder-length blonde hair, wearing dark trousers and a light top.

Information to Bitterne CID on 0845 045 4545.