Police are investigating following a student’s claim that they were sexually assaulted in Fruity, LS can reveal.

According to police, a 27 year old male student was detained by security staff before being arrested.

The arrest followed a 19 year old female student telling police she was sexually assaulted in Leeds University Union in the early hours of Saturday morning, October 19. The male has since been released on police bail pending further enquiries.

An eyewitness in the Union told this paper that several other incidents also happened during the event. The second year, English student, said: “A girl was wheeled into an ambulance waiting outside the Union building.”

The eyewitness was also informed by security that the Union’s night bus was running late due to taking students to hospital.

A Union spokesperson said that the two reports were unrelated, describing them as “minor first aid incidents”.

They added: “As with any busy club night, unfortunately we have some incidents that result in students needing medical and/or staff attention, this was the case at last Friday’s Fruity.”

The incident follows previous issues at Fruity including an alleged spiking reported last year.

A Union spokesperson said: “LUU has a zero tolerance policy towards sexual harassment, which means that we actively encourage students to report incidents of harassment to us. When security staff are alerted to an incident they always take immediate action to support alleged victims and deal with the alleged perpetrators.”

They added: “We are proud of our record in dealing with such incidents and will continue to do whatever we can to make LUU as safe as possible for everyone to enjoy”.

Maddy Keating

Photo: Leo Garbutt