Antoni Imiela

Fibres and DNA evidence proved crucial in the investigation of the M25 rapist, Antoni Imiela, in the biggest linked police inquiry since the hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper 20 years ago.

Imiela, 49, of Appledore, Kent, was sentenced to life in March 2004 after being convicted of a series of rapes over a 12-month period. Two of his victims were just ten.

The attacks began in November 2001 when railway worker, Imiela, abducted a ten-year-old girl from outside a community centre in Ashford, Kent. She was taken to some nearby woodland where she was assaulted and raped.

A full DNA profile as a result of the attack was obtained at the scene, but this profile didn't match any of the profiles on the National DNA Database®. Kent Police then carried out an intelligence-led screen with 2,000 men from a local estate volunteering their DNA samples, but still no match was found.

The second attack happened eight months later in Earlswood, Surrey, when a 30-year-old woman was raped and beaten while out walking. Using DNA Low Copy Number technology, a partial profile was obtained. This matched the one from the first attack where the same components of the profile were present.

The Forensic Science Service (FSS) specialist adviser who co-ordinated the forensic work on the case said the DNA evidence was a major breakthrough in the police investigation because it linked the first two attacks and subsequent rapes.

"These two assaults would never have been linked through traditional policing methods, the rape of a ten-year-old and a 30-year-old in different counties with different MOs."

Three further attacks, on Putney Heath, Wimbledon Common and Epsom Common eventually led to the setting up of Operation Orb involving six police forces – Kent, Surrey, Metropolitan Police, Hertfordshire, Thames Valley and West Midlands.

A second intelligence-led screen involving a further 1,000 men based on police intelligence of likely suspects was conducted but, again, failed to get a match.

Further progress was made when a 14-year-old girl raped in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, in October 2002, was able to help police compile a picture of her attacker which was distributed to the media. An anonymous caller contacted Crimestoppers, leading detectives to Imiela.

Two days after giving officers a DNA sample, he kidnapped and indecently assaulted a 10-year-old girl in Birmingham.

Imiela was arrested while driving home in December 2002 after a profile of the sample he'd had given detectives matched the DNA profile from the first assault.

Checking Imiela's clothing for fibres that could have come from his victims' clothing wasn't feasible. But while examining his clothing, FSS scientists removed a number of brightly coloured unusual fibres, but which didn't come from the garment itself.

These included different types of man made fibres that were yellow, orange and pink in colour, together with some that changed colour from yellow to orange along their length. There were enough of these fibres for it to be possible that they'd been transferred to clothing that Imiela had come into contact with eg. his victims – in what's known as secondary transfer.

Months of work examining their clothing by three dedicated FSS assistants resulted in combinations of these threads ranging from a single pink fibre in one of the cases to larger numbers of several fibre types being found on the last Birmingham victim. In this last case there was a greater opportunity for fibres to be transferred as the victim had been in Imiela's car. A DNA profile matching the 10-year-old was obtained from two hairs found in his car giving a two-way transfer of fibres one way and DNA the other way.

Fibre evidence was found in all eight assaults. This, along with the DNA, was vital in showing a link between Imiela and the attacks.

Some of the sources of these fibres from Imiela's clothing were tracked down with technical and manufacturing enquiry help from a scientist in the FSS's research department. The orange and yellow-orange fibres were found to have come from protective working jackets worn by rail workers and the pink fibres matched curtains in Imiela's own home.

Antoni Imiela was convicted of seven rapes, and the kidnap, indecent assault and attempted rape of a 10-year-old girl and given seven life sentences.