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The woman was holidaying in Turkey when the alleged incident occurred, Metro reports.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is key a point of contact for Britons abroad who are the victims of sexual assault.

The woman, known as ‘Ms B’, launched a complaint against the Foreign Office after she reported the incident to them.

An investigation into the case by the public services watchdog found multiple failures in how the FCDO handled the report, after ‘Ms B’ spoke with officials who “did not believe her or take her seriously”.

It is not known when the attack took place, but it is believed the woman was on holiday with friends at the time.

The woman claimed she was “forced to use my own intuition to preserve forensic evidence” after she was given no information about how crimes were handled locally.

The report then found she “was led to believe she had given sufficient evidence to the police, did not need a forensic examination and had completed the necessary steps for a criminal investigation.”.

The report continued: “In fact, none of these things were the case.’

The woman’s complaint added that the FCDO had given her “false hope” of an investigation into the incident once she was back on UK soil.

This led to a forensic medical examination that yielded no results.

Foreign Office guidance for reports of rape from British nationals specifies that they “take any report of rape and sexual assault seriously”.

“Empathetic, patient, sensitive and non-judgmental” support should be available to those who approach the FCDO.

They add they can provide “immediate support on the telephone at any time of the day or night”.

Where possible, they will extend “in-person assistance”.

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