PARTS of the Pentagon Shopping Centre in Chatham were sealed off after a young woman was raped.

The rape occurred at about 11pm on Sunday near the taxi rank at the back of the centre, opposite Chatham Police Station in The Brook.

Police sealed off rear entrances to the Pentagon with blue and white tape as officers and expert forensic teams painstakingly searched every inch of the ground, looking for clues to the identity of the attacker and even traces of DNA.

A passer-by, police said, saw the woman in a shocked and upset state and went into Chatham Police Station to report the incident for her.

"The woman was in a state of a shock and as a result, details are pretty sparse at the moment," a Medway Police spokesman said. "Investigations are naturally on-going and our forensic teams have been searching the alleged rape site for clues."

It is understood that the woman was not physically hit or battered by her attacker.