A TEENAGER has today been waiting more than five months to see if he will be charged with rape.The youngster – who has not been named – was arrested following an incident in January but is still no clearer over whether he will face court action or not.

A TEENAGER has today been waiting more than five months to see if he will be charged with rape.

The youngster – who has not been named – was arrested following an incident in January but is still no clearer over whether he will face court action or not.

The worry has been hanging over him and his family, but police said today that the case needed the fullest investigation and it was not a quick process.

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

Detectives immediately launched an investigation and soon afterwards a 17-year-old youth was arrested.

A large area of open space next to an informal five-a-side football pitch in Grange Farm Avenue was cordoned off with blue-and-white police tape all day 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.

Children love to play chase and cowboys and indians around the mounds. People in the area said at the time that they were shocked by the alleged rape.

The green area is one of two large areas of open space serving the Cavendish Park, Orwell Green and Grange Farm estates with the Safeway superstore, Owl and Pussycat pub and Cavendish Community Church in the centre.

The man who was arrested in connection with the allegation made by the 17-year-old female 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.

He has just been bailed again and is currently due to meet police next on June 9.

A police spokeswoman said it was a serious allegation and the fullest investigation possible was taking place.

"Sometimes an investigation can take a long time and the most important thing is that we get it absolutely right," she said.

In some cases, forensic testing and other analysis of evidence is necessary, which can take time, and work on the evidence can throw up fresh lines of inquiry and questions which then need to be assessed.