Penny Lancaster breaks down in tears on Loose Woman as she recalls childhood attack by a man

Lancaster described the moment she was accosted under a subway on her journey to school
Emma Powell12 November 2015
The Weekender

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Penny Lancaster broke down in tears on Loose Woman as she recalled the moment she was attacked by a man as a child.

Lancaster, 44 – who is a panellist on the ITV chat show – described the moment, aged 12, when a man pulled up her skirt under a subway as she made her way to school.

Fighting back the tears she said: "I had a very unfortunate incident. It was a journey on the way to school and I was attacked.

"It was nothing about the way I looked, I could have been in a short skirt or I could have had thick tights on, it wouldn't have mattered."

Opening up: Penny Lancaster was comforted by Coleen Nolan as she recalled the attack
Ken McKay/ITV/Rex

The model – who is married to Rod Stewart – pushed for parents to ensure that their children travel to school in groups: “I normally would travel to school with a group of children which is if you want to put a message out there for children to be safe it’s about travelling in groups. Safety in numbers. Whether you're sending a child to the toilets make sure they go with someone else."

Lancaster went on to describe the moment she was attacked and how she managed to fight the man off.

"I was attacked under a subway," she said. "I managed to, being tall, and strong, I managed to fight this man off who had pulled my skirt up and wrestled with me. It was a few weeks later, I was in an undercover police car outside what they thought was the man who attacked me.

"I was the oldest, at the age of 12, who had given the same description of this man and unfortunately it wasn't him, but there are a lot of evil men out there that will prey on young girls so it doesn't matter what they wear, so they shouldn't be to blame about whether they're being encouraged or not."

The panel were discussing the news about a school in Hartlepool which is encouraging parents to ensure their children wear tights of at least 40 denier thickness, to protect their safety.

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