POLICE have launched an investigation into a rape of a child - reported 20 years after it happened.

Detective Inspector Steve Fear, of Wallsend CID, Newcastle, said the victim, now 29 years old, did not report the incident at the time and had not told her family.

He said: "This is highly unusual in that we are dealing with the report of a crime which happened around 20 years ago.

"However, we are treating this complaint seriously and would urge anyone with information to get in touch.

"Although the victim has only now felt able to come forward, she has provided a very detailed description of her attacker."

The victim cannot give the exact year of the rape but remembers it happened on a summer's day in the early 1980s when she was playing in a field with other children on land which is now the Parklands estate in Wallsend.

A man came up and befriended the group she was with before taking her to nearby bushes and raping her.

The victim described her attacker as about 28 years old, plump, 5ft 9in, with dirty, dark brown hair cut in a short back and sides. He also had a moustache.

He was wearing dark jogging bottoms, a navy blue Asics sweatshirt and Puma trainers. He was carrying a black sports bag bearing an Asics logo.

After the attack he walked towards Darsley Park Sports Centre in Whitley Road, Wallsend.

Police are hoping someone from the area may recognise the description or have heard about the attack.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the police on 0191-214 6555.