Serial rapist strikes again in attack on elderly woman

A CAT-SUITED rapist who prompted Scotland Yard’s biggest hunt for a serial sex attacker has struck again.

The rapist, who preys on elderly women some in their 90s had not been linked to any offences since last October. But detectives revealed he had broken into a 78-year-old woman's home in south-east London in the early hours of last Saturday.

The pensioner fought him off, suffering injuries to her face, but he escaped with her jewellery including a diamond engagement ring and two gold bracelets.

Police believe he may also have been behind a break-in at a pensioner's home last Thursday in which £300 was taken but there was no sexual attack.

The attacker is thought to have broken into the homes of nearly 80 elderly women across south London over the past decade, and to have sexually assaulting 26 of those victims. Three of those were raped and the rest indecently assaulted.

Detective Chief Inspector Simon Morgan, heading Operation Minstead, the largest single hunt for a serial rapist undertaken by Metropolitan Police, said: "Criminal profilers have told us that he has been able to control his urges. There have been gaps where that has happened, but then it starts again."

Detectives fear that now he has begun to offend again after a four-month gap, one of his elderly victims may die from the trauma of an attack. According to criminal profilers the attacker is a 'gerantophile': someone who enjoys sex with victims over the age of 50.

His oldest victim was 92 and the youngest 68. Some More than once victims have persuaded him from rape by talking to him about his mother.

Seven of the offences have been linked by DNA and the remainder through the methods of the attacker.

He always strikes between midnight and 4am having first watched his victim to make sure they are alone. He wakes his victims with a torch and spends several hours in their home. Many of the attacks have taken place within a mile and a half of each other in the Shirley area of Croydon and detectives believe the suspect may live or work there. The cat-suit could be worn to conceal the attacker's identity, avoid leaving DNA or for a sexual thrill.

Describing his appearance, One victim described him: "He was standing at the end of the bed completely covered from head to foot in an all-in-one cat-suit and there were two slits where his eyes were." He is aged between 25 and 40 and softly spoken.