She only went out after a row with her boyfriend, but her act of revenge ended in rape. She talks to Sam Strangeways abou the day her life changed.

IT was an argument with her boyfriend on a Sunday morning which led Paula to go to Middlesbrough on her own. She wanted to annoy him, so she left her home in Sedgefield and caught a bus to Teesside.

"I didn't intend to go to Middlesbrough, but it seemed like a good idea," she says. "I'd never been drinking on my own in Middlesbrough. It could have been a bus to Durham or a bus to Hartlepool."

That day, Sunday, April 25, Paula, a slim, dark-haired 25-year-old, drank in various pubs around the town centre, eventually hooking up with a woman called Helen, similarly disgruntled with her boyfriend, at around tea time at the Princess Alice.

"I didn't really want to go out on my own because by this time I was quite tipsy," says Paula. "I said 'come on, you can show us around'. She knew the place."

The pair visited various pubs in the town centre, including the Chicago Rock Caf and the Isaac Wilson, before ending up in Aruba (formerly the Royal Exchange) in Exchange Place.

Extremely drunk, they left at about 12.40am and tried to hail a cab. The intention was that Helen would get dropped off at her home in Middlesbrough and then the cab would go on to Sedgefield.

They tried to get into a couple of taxis but the drivers refused to take them home, either because they were too drunk or because they didn't have the full £35 fare.

Somehow, Paula and Helen were separated. Detectives have closed-circuit television footage of them getting into one cab together but then the cameras pans away.

Paula says she was waving her arms about, "just drunk" and desperate to get a taxi, when a black hatchback car pulled up, somewhere near the UGC cinema, in the Corporation Road/Marton Road area, and beckoned her over.

She assumed it was a bona fide cab, with another customer in the passenger seat, and got in.

Instead of taking her home, the two men in the four-door vehicle drove her to a deserted country lane where they both raped her.

"I nodded off and woke with a start," she says. "I didn't know where we were because it was pitch black. The light went on in the front of the car.

'One of them said 'we are home now' and I realised it wasn't. Then it happened." Paula stops for half a second, her face giving nothing away. She stares defiantly ahead, then continues: "I went to a farmhouse and banged really loud. It was the only place there.

"There was an elderly lady who answered the door. She saw the state I was in. I explained that I'd gone to Middlesbrough to try to annoy my boyfriend."

When Paula knocked at the farmhouse door, at Butterwick, near Sedgefield, she was wearing just a T-shirt.

Her attackers had removed the rest of her clothes and dumped them on the ground beside her. She ran barefoot to the house, cutting her feet on the hard ground.

"I didn't want to phone the police," she says. "It was embarrassing." Instead, she gave the woman her boyfriend's number and he arrived soon after with a friend.

They retrieved the discarded clothes and Paula put them on in the back of the car on the way home. It was only after much persuasion from her partner, that she agreed to ring the police.

Asked what effect the rapes have had on her, she states bluntly: "None whatsoever." It's not clear whether she means this, until she elaborates: "I just feel numb. Of course I'm angry. But I don't want to get sadistic about this."

Her partner, she says, is more emotional about the attack than her. "He's angry and hurt," she adds sadly. The double rape has put the couple, already going through a rough patch, under an "awful strain".

But Paula nods vigorously when asked if he's been a tower of strength. "He's been there and he's been good to us."

Paula has spoken out to help police catch her attackers but says the most important thing for her is to warn other women about the danger they could place themselves in.

"I'm not stupid," she says. "If I hadn't been drinking... but when you've been drinking... I just want people, even if they have been drinking, to go out in company and not go out on their own."

Detectives hunting the men who lured Paula into their car are awaiting the results of forensic tests. Already, members of the public have come forward with the names of 15 potential suspects.

Detective Sergeant Jim Cunningham, who is leading the investigation, says the response following media appeals has been excellent. But police still need to speak to anyone who saw Paula in Middlesbrough that day.

She was wearing a navy blue Ellesse T-shirt, navy Lycra bootcut trousers and black trainers with a grey stripe. She has collar-length dark hair.

Detectives also want to hear from anyone who has suspicions that maybe a relative, colleague or a friend was involved in the attack. "If people have got any suspicions or concerns then we can put their mind at rest because we can easily eliminate them from our inquiries," said DS Cunningham.

He describes Paula as having "an extremely strong character".

"She does keep her feelings to herself," he says. "That is her way of dealing with the whole incident. However, every now and then her anger does come to the surface, which is quite understandable after what she's been through.

"We are hoping this is going to make more people come forward and provide us with information about the two men who have raped this poor lady.

"We believe that sooner or later we will catch those involved."

Anyone with information which could help police should call Newton Aycliffe CID on (01325) 742572 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

The victim's name has been changed in this report.