POLICE admitted last night that the inquiry into the rape of a woman had failed to find any fresh clues.

Eighteen months after the 30-year-old was attacked as she walked home from a night out with friends, detectives are no closer to catching the offender.

The woman, from Middleton St George, near Darlington, was returning home after a celebration party when the stranger pounced.

He dragged her off the street, near Dinsdale railway station, and raped her. The incident took place on April 21 last year.

Yesterday, despite an extensive hunt, a senior detective said that all lines of inquiry had been exhausted without an arrest being made.

Detective Chief Inspector Ian Macdonald, who led the inquiry, said: "The team involved in this investigation exhausted just about every possible line of inquiry which was relevant and, to date, nobody has been arrested."

Twenty-five officers were drafted in to man a special incident room but, despite numerous appeals, nobody was charged.

Police said they believed the victim was not known to her attacker and that he had not been carrying a weapon. He is described as white, about 6ft, of stocky build, with short hair.