Police will attempt to contact a woman mentioned in a US lawsuit alleging the rapper Nelly sexually assaulted her after a gig in the UK.
Essex Police said they would try to obtain a report from the unnamed woman by contacting the Seattle-based lawyer bringing the claim after officers were alerted by US media reports.
The new allegation, that a woman was sexually assaulted by the rapper after a gig at Cliffs Pavilion in Southend last December, is included in the lawsuit of an American woman who alleges the rapper raped her on his tour bus in the US.
Nelly denies the allegations, which have emerged in a lawsuit filed in Seattle, Washington. (Yui Mok/PA)
An Essex Police spokesman said: “We have checked our records and don’t appear to have received a report of this incident.
“Specially trained officers are now making contact with the solicitors in a bid to contact the victim to take a report.”
Nelly, real name Cornell Iral Haynes Jr, denies the allegations and has filed a counter-suit, while his lawyer Scott Rosenblum said the claim was “deceitful” and “motivated by money”.
University student Monique Greene, 22, is suing the 43-year-old in Washington, USA, after prosecutors dropped a criminal case against him because she would not testify.
In court documents obtained by the Press Association, the lawsuit also says a third woman alleges she was sexually assaulted after a show at Koko, in Camden, north London, in June 2016.
The two women who allege attacks in the UK are referred to only as Jane Doe one and Jane Doe two in the document.
It adds the woman involved in the alleged attack in Essex did not report it to police because she feared not being believed.
Ms Greene’s lawyer Karen Koehler said that the other two women contacted her after reading about her client’s case.
One of the women is British and another is an American who was stationed in England with the military at the time.
Mr Rosenblum, in an email to the Press Association, said: “Nelly is sensitive to women that have been victimised and marginalised. This is not the case here. He will not stand silent.
“The recent addition of ‘Jane Doe 1 and 2’ is completely fabricated and an attempt to give credibility to his accuser’s far fetched story.
“Nelly welcomes the opportunity to litigate this case in court. He is not looking for any monetary gain. He does not expect any monetary gain.
“He expects an apology and recognition that he did no wrong.”