Urban Legend?

I got this e-mail in my inbox this morning:

Dear Sophie.

The most scary thing happened to me on Friday night while I was walking home. I'd been out with some friends to see 'Casino Royale', and I couldn't get a cab home, so I was walking. I know that's always wrong for a girl on her own, and I'm NEVER going to do it again, not after what happened.
I tried to take a shortcut I know, and that was a mistake. In a dark, deserted alley I realised I was being followed by a man. I walked faster, but so did he. I ended up running, and he was running after me. I was so scared that I must have taken a wrong turning, because I ended up at the end of a blind alley, with no way to escape. The man was still after me. I tried to get past him, but he grabbed me and pulled a knife.
"You don't want to get killed, do you?" he asked me. I didn't. He then said he wanted to rape me, and if I tried to escape I'd die.
I was terrified, but there was nothing I could do about it. He was so strong!
He was going to rape me, and I couldn't do anything about it.
"Stop!"
It was a little girl's voice, and I was afraid he'd kill her. But when I looked it wasn't an ordinary little girl. It was like a smoky outline, black with glowing red eyes that seemed to burn like fire. The rapist let go of me and stared at the ghost. I just ran.
I went straight to the police. They found the rapist still in the alleyway, with his own knife in his heart.
Now here's the really weird bit. In Victorian times a little girl was raped and murdered in that alleyway. I think it was her ghost that saved me from the same fate.

I know what you think. But you ask the police. There was a CCTV camera at the entrance to that alley, and no-one except me and the rapist ever went in at the time.

Your friend Abbie


[Girl in Grey comments: Usually I throw out stories like these, but I know this one's real. Why? Emily confirmed it for me. Yes, Emily Fairbairn, alias The Outsider, was responsible. She's in my shower right now, so I got the information first hand.
The business with the little girl in the Victorian era is just a coincidence. And I'm sure Abbie would have found another explanation if there hadn't been a murder story connected with the alley.]