THAILAND: A Scottish student who alleges she was raped while visiting Thailand has spoken of her ordeal.

The 20-year-old claims she was attacked by a gang of men after being dragged off the street.

The woman, who has not been identified, revealed she was with friends in a bar but says she left alone to walk home and woke up on the balcony of a building a short distance away.

She said of her attackers: "They hit me on the face and on the head. There are bruises on my arms from where they held me down."

The victim criticised investigators and said she would soon return to her family in Scotland.

She said: "The whole system has let me down. They are making out that I'm some drunk idiot and it was my fault, which was not the case."

The student, from the Highlands, was reportedly attacked after leaving a nightspot in Nakhon Sri Thammarat in the south of the country.

It is understood the woman was on a break from her studies and had applied for a job at a local school.

Reports said she had been in the city for two weeks with her boyfriend when she was attacked on Saturday morning.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are aware of a British national having been involved in a serious assault in Thailand. We are providing consulate assistance."

The victim is travelling home to Scotland this week, after the ordeal forced her to abandon plans to begin teaching in the region, she said.