Police appeal for information after woman attacked in Middleton

At 11:20am on Thursday 6 March, we were called to Crow Hill South, Middleton, to reports of an assault. It's believed that the suspect was in possession of a knife. 

Emergency services attended, and the victim, a woman in her 70s, thankfully did not receive serious injuries, but she has understandably been left quite shaken by this.

Since the report came in, we’ve been carrying out extensive enquiries in the area, speaking with residents and several witnesses. Officers continue to trawl through hundreds of hours of CCTV and extra resources have been dedicated to this to ensure we can build a detailed timeline of events which led to this incident, and the suspects movements thereafter.

We continue to work closely with the victim to support her at what is a distressing time.

Police have now released a video of a man they would like to speak to as they believe he may be able to assist with enquiries. If you recognise anything about this man, please get in touch with us.

Detective Inspector Kimberley Hines from our Rochdale district said: “We do believe this to be an unprovoked attack which has left a woman incredibly shaken.

“We know that hearing about this incident will be concerning for our communities, but I want to assure you that extensive work is underway to locate the suspect, and we have additional patrols in the area to speak to residents and offer support.

“We have a team of detectives and police officers working around the clock to identify who is responsible for this attack, and we are appealing to the public who may be able to assist us. We have released footage of a man we would like to speak to, as we believe he could have information which is relevant to our investigation. Whilst you cannot see his face in the video, we ask if anyone recognises the clothing or perhaps his build, and can help us identify him – please come forward.”

Information can be shared by calling 101 quoting log 1007 of 06/03/25.

If you would prefer to remain anonymous, information can be shared by contacting the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.