Police hunt suspects after woman raped outside Epsom church

Police are hunting suspects after a woman in her 20s was followed from a nightclub and raped outside Epsom Methodist Church, on a stretch of Ashley Road where the victim appears to have been exposed after leaving the town centre late at night.

Surrey Police said the woman reported being attacked by several men after leaving Labyrinth Epsom nightclub in the early hours of Saturday, April 11, 2026. Investigators believe the assault took place between 2am and 4am outside Epsom Methodist Church, at 11-13 Ashley Road, Epsom, Surrey, KT18 5AQ.

The location places the attack on a route that can be quiet and poorly populated after venues shut, with little margin for anyone walking alone between late-night transport links and closed buildings. Epsom Methodist Church describes itself as a community venue with worship services and events, but the area outside it became the scene of a serious sexual assault that has triggered an urgent police search.

Detective Inspector Aine Matthews said the case was still in its early stages. Surrey Police said the victim is being supported by specialist officers while investigators carry out extensive enquiries to identify and locate the suspects. Police are asking for witnesses who were in the Ashley Road area between 2am and 4am, especially anyone who saw something suspicious or may have spoken to a distressed woman in her 20s after she left the nightclub.

The appeal suggests detectives are trying to reconstruct the final minutes before the attack, including the route taken from Labyrinth Epsom nightclub to the church frontage and whether anyone in nearby streets, doorways, taxis or late-night transport stops saw the group of men who are believed to have been involved.

The case has sharpened concern around how safe women remain when nightlife ends and foot traffic thins out. The stretch outside the church, so close to a busy evening economy but vulnerable once crowds disperse, now sits at the center of the investigation as police work to identify suspects and piece together what happened in the darkness between 2am and 4am.