POLICE have dropped an investigation into claims of a serious sexual assault in Winchester.

Detectives appealed for witnesses after a 27-year-old woman said she was attacked in an alley off of Jewry Street last Wednesday.

Detective Inspector Jan Bulfield, from Winchester police station, said: “Specially trained officers worked throughout the weekend to assist a 27-year-old woman who reported that she had been sexually assaulted in Winchester city centre during the early hours of December 4.

“Hampshire Constabulary treat all reports of this nature very seriously and take time to establish the full circumstances. Further information has now allowed us to clarify that a serious sexual assault did not take place.”

A spokesman said no further action had been taken.