ASK most people about sex attacks in East Oxford and Cowley, and they will probably believe the numbers of incidents shot up this year.

But figures reveal that, despite a high-profile spate of linked sex assaults, there was only one more such incident in 2011 than 2010.

Women in the area said they were worried by the attacks and surprised the number was not significantly up.

Only one suspect arrested in the course of police inquiries is currently under investigation for one of this year’s attacks.

It was not clear last night how the number of arrests compared to the previous year and whether the detection rate had fallen.

Det Sgt Steve Raffield said there was only one more non-domestic sex crime under investigation than the year before.

Between May 29 and December 6 last year, there were 13 reports of sex assaults in East Oxford and Cowley. That compares to 14 reports this year.

But Oxford & Cherwell Valley College student Wahida Tahmasi, 19, of Rose Hill, said: “I’m more worried now. I realise I have to be more careful when I’m coming home from friends at night.”

And 40-year-old Headington resident Tanya Field said: “I am surprised that there’s only been one more assault because there has been a spate of them and I would have assumed that it would have affected the overall numbers.”

With the exception of the three sexual assaults in Southfield Road on May 29 and June 2, police are not linking any of the crimes.

A 26-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of those attacks, but was told he would face no further charge in September.

In an unrelated case in which a 30-year-old woman was groped by a man as she walked home along Marsh Road on September 30, a 37-year-old man from Headington has been arrested.

He failed to answer bail on November 28 and police are trying to locate him.

Det Sgt Raffield said: “There are many reasons why these offences are difficult to bring to court.

“Forensic opportunities can be limited and victims and witnesses can struggle to accurately describe their attacker.

“We will always pursue every avenue before we take the difficult decision to close a case. We fully appreciate that these offences can have a traumatic and lasting effect on the victim.”