BRITAIN: Detectives in England have appealed for help to stop a serial rapist from striking again after confirming he had attacked his 10th victim. Police say they are convinced the man who brutally raped a 14-year-old girl in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, on Friday had also carried out a string of attacks in the home counties.
The Kent Assistant Chief Constable, Mr David Kelly, who is leading the investigation, yesterday said there was evidence connecting the attacks and they were waiting for DNA tests to confirm the link.
The search for the "trophy rapist" - he usually takes an item of clothing from his victims - is now the biggest manhunt yet for a rapist and the biggest investigation of its kind since the Yorkshire Ripper.
Mr Kelly said the man was extremely dangerous. "This man's rapes are horrible offences by any definition, the rape of children, girls of 10, 12, 13 or 14 years old, right up to a woman of 52."
The teenager was raped on her way home along a footpath near a school in Stevenage. As in most of the other attacks, she was grabbed from behind and dragged into woods at knife-point. The rapist may well have suffered scratches to the face and body as he dragged the schoolgirl into brambles. She caught a brief glimpse of him and could tell that he had a large nose, green-blue eyes and stubble. - (PA)