A French police officer has been charged with rape and sexual assault following an alleged attack on a British woman while she was ‘drunk and handcuffed’.

The 37-year-old victim – who cannot be named for legal reasons – is said to have been arrested by three policemen and then subjected to a horrific ordeal in the back of a patrol van last week.

She was staying at a hotel in the southern town of Aubagne, close to Marseille, when officers were called on the evening of September 10.

‘The woman was said to have been very drunk and causing a disturbance, so she was handcuffed and taken into custody,’ said an investigating source.

A three-person police crew placed the woman in their patrol van and headed to a police station in the coastal town of La Ciotat to sober up.

‘On the way, the wom

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