No complaint from alleged victim in NZ rugby assault

By Greg Stutchbury

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - The victim of an alleged sexual assault by four members of the England rugby team in New Zealand will not be making a formal complaint to police, her lawyers said on Friday.

The England team's tour of New Zealand last month was marred when Auckland police said they were investigating allegations of a sexual assault by players after the first test at Eden Park.

England's Rugby Football Union (RFU) has launched its own inquiry into the allegations.

Lawyers acting for the victim said in a letter to the RFU that she would not participate in its inquiry or make a formal complaint to New Zealand police.

The letter written by Jack Hodder, a partner in leading New Zealand law firm Chapman Tripp, to the RFU's disciplinary officer Judge Jeff Blackett, was released to New Zealand media on Friday.

"We can advise that the victim remains of the view that she will not make a formal complaint to the New Zealand Police," Hodder wrote.

The allegations created a media furore in Britain, with four squad members named as the players involved. All four have denied the allegations in the "strongest terms".

A New Zealand woman who spent the night with one of the players, but is not the alleged victim, also sold her story to a tabloid.