Three men appear in court charged with kidnapping and sexually assaulting a woman in the Harborough district

Three men charged with kidnapping and sexually assaulting a woman in a tiny Harborough district village have all been remanded in custody until next month.

The men, all from Leicester, are now due to appear at Leicester Crown Court on Monday February 21.

They appeared at Leicester magistrates’ court yesterday (Thursday) charged over the attack in Misterton, near Lutterworth, in the early hours of last Sunday (January 16).

Vahar Manchala, 22, of Gaul Street, Leicester, has been charged with two counts of sexual assault, two counts of assaulting a female aged 13 and over by penetration with a part of his body/a thing and one count of kidnap/falsely imprisoning a person with intent to commit a relevant sexual offence.

Rana Yellambai, 28, of Gaul Street, Leicester, has been charged with one count of one count of kidnap/falsely imprisoning a person with intent to commit a relevant sexual offence and one count of assaulting a female aged 13 and over by penetration with a part of his body/a thing.

Ajay Doppalapudi, 25, of Gaul Street, Leicester, has been charged with one count of one count of kidnap/falsely imprisoning a person with intent to commit a relevant sexual offence and one count of assaulting a female aged 13 and over by penetration with a part of his body/a thing.

A fourth man, aged 27, was arrested by police hunting the attackers but he was released with no further action.

A team of at least 10 police officers searched fields, undergrowth and hedgerows in Misterton on Tuesday morning this week as a full-scale investigation into the attack was launched.