OAP fights off serial rapist

A cat-suited rapist who prompted Scotland Yard's biggest hunt for a serial sex attacker has struck again.

The rapist preys on elderly women - some in their 90s. He had not been linked to any offences since last October.

But detectives have revealed he broke into a 78-year-old woman's home on the Kingswood estate 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 in Catford last Thursday in which £300 was taken but there was no sexual attack.

The attacker is now thought to have broken into the homes of nearly 80 elderly women across south London over the past decade and to have sexually assaulted 26 of those victims.

Three of those were raped and the rest indecently assaulted.

The attacker wears a distinctive all-in-one nylon black cat-suit, gloves and a balaclava.

Detective Chief Inspector Simon Morgan, heading Operation Minstead the largest single hunt for a serial rapist ever 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 "gerontophile" - someone who enjoys sex with victims over the age of 50. His oldest victim was 92 and the youngest 68.

Most watched News videos