A NATIONWIDE appeal has been made to track down a couple who came to the aid of a teenage sexual assault victim in Cheshire 24 years ago.

The victim, who was 15 at the time and only reported the attack earlier this year, was raped at a house in Halton Road, Runcorn, but managed to escape afterwards.

She ran off down the road and flagged down a car driven by a man in his early 20s. A woman, also in her early 20s was also in the car.

The couple drove the girl to her home and the woman urged her to tell her parents what had happened. But she made her go because she did not want her parents to know.

Cheshire Police Detective Inspector Clare Coleman said they had been trying to track down the couple for months but without any luck.

"Our initial appeal was focused on the local community hoping that the couple still lived locally,” she said. “Given that no one came forward we now believe that the couple may have moved out of the area and are extending our appeal to a wider audience in the hope we can trace them.

"Even though it was a long time ago, I am sure that the couple will still remember picking up a teenage girl who was clearly in a distressed state and certainly remember hearing the shocking revelation that she had been raped.”

DI Coleman urged the couple to come forward to help with the investigation.

“I′m sure they must wonder whatever happened to that young girl they helped and would want to do anything they could to help her again if they had the opportunity,” she said.

"This is their chance.”

Anyone with any information can call 101, select Cheshire Police and quote incident number 114 of April 26 2014.