A TEENAGER who has been waiting more than six months to see if he will be charged with rape was today told the case against him had been dropped.Police said if new information came forward it would be fully investigated, but the decision to cancel the bail of the young man, now 18, had been made after detailed inquiries.

A TEENAGER who has been waiting more than six months to see if he will be charged with rape was today told the case against him had been dropped.

Police said if new information came forward it would be fully investigated, but the decision to cancel the bail of the young man, now 18, had been made after detailed inquiries.

The youngster – who has not been named – was arrested following an incident in January.

The worry has been hanging over him and his family ever since, but police said the case needed the fullest investigation.

Police sealed off part of a play area after a teenage girl alleged she had been raped there in the early hours on her way home.

Detectives immediately launched an investigation and soon afterwards the man, then 17, was arrested.

A large area of open space next to an informal five-a-side football pitch in Grange Farm Avenue was cordoned off on January 2 as officers searched the site for evidence.

The area where the incident was alleged to have taken place was at the back of houses in Cricket Hill Road and Reynolds Court, where there are grassy mounds created by spoil left over when the estates were built.

People in the area said at the time they were shocked by the alleged rape.

The teenager who was arrested in connection with the allegation was held in custody at Felixstowe police station and was questioned by detectives.

Since then he has been on police bail. Each time he has answered his bail – three occasions – to hear whether he would be charged or not he has been re-bailed to a fresh date pending further inquiries.

A police spokeswoman said today: "After extensive investigations, the man arrested in connection with the allegation of rape has had his bail cancelled and no further action will be taken in relation to this incident."

Officers say investigations can take a long time and the most important thing is that the outcome is absolutely right. In some cases, forensic testing and other analysis of evidence is necessary, which can take time, and work on the evidence which can throw up fresh lines of inquiry and questions which then need to be assessed.

n Were you the 18-year-old suspected of this crime, or the victim? What has life been like with this case hanging over you – how do you feel now? Contact the Evening Star's Felixstowe newsdesk on 01394 284109.