A 44-year-old man has been charged following the rape of a woman in Botley on Tuesday. 

Mark Pearton, of Cavendish Place, Eastbourne in Sussex, has been charged with one count of rape, one count of assault by penetration and one count of possession of a knife in a public place. 

Pearton appeared at Oxford Magistrate's Court on Saturday morning and was remanded in custody to appear at Oxford Crown Court on February 12. 

Police said the victim, a woman, was walking along Harcourt Hill when she was forced at knifepoint into Raleigh Park around 8pm on Tuesday.

A balaclava-clad man then raped her in what police have described as an 'appalling offence'.

Over the past few days officers have conducted house-to-house enquiries and combed the area, setting up a cordon and putting up two forensic tents.