DETECTIVES have charged a man with the rape of a woman in a Southampton park.

Officers were given more time to interview Stuart Ashley-Burton, of no fixed address, who was arrested on Monday.

A 32-year-old woman said she was attacked as she made her way home from celebrating the new year with friends.

It was alleged the attack took place in a park in the Northam area of the city in the early hours of New Year’s Day.

Mr Ashley-Burton will appear today at Southampton Magistrates’ Court facing a charge of rape.