Did rapist have more victims?

Twenty years previously he had faced a military court over claims that he had forced his way into the home of a teenage German woman and violently attacked her.

In 1984 he was acquitted. But in 2004, a combination of innovative DNA techniques and painstaking police work firmly linked him with the attack in Heworth.

Earlier this week, he admitted the York attack, which left his victim - now middle-aged - serving what she described in court as "a life sentence".

Police have told of how, more than two decades after the event, she instantly recognised her attacker in a video identification parade.

Today, the Evening Press can reveal how determined detectives made the decision to reinvestigate the 1984 rape after innovative forensic methods were used to snare a North Yorkshire rapist last year.

Andrew Bailey subjected a woman to a terrifying ordeal in Flaxley Road, Selby, and was convicted with the help of a groundbreaking DNA technique.

Forensic experts said this could be applied to old evidence, and detectives set about cross-checking the databases.

By complete chance, Rome had been arrested and his DNA taken as a matter of routine several months earlier, after he was accused of assaulting a 12-year-old girl.

Detective Inspector Alan Carey, who led the investigation, said: "If we had reinvestigated two months previously we would have missed him. It was a little bit of luck."

It was only the second time forensic workers had used the technique, which involves analysing the Y-chromosome of male suspects in a criminal case.

Once detectives began studying Rome's history, officers in three countries and up to eight UK forces were alerted that the sexual predator might be linked with other crimes.

In Berlin, officers are still investigating whether Rome, who was stationed there for two years with the Prince of Wales's Own Regiment of Yorkshire, could be responsible for a series of high-profile attacks in the city.

Newspaper articles from that period reveal how Rome was at the centre of a nationwide controversy when he was set free by a British military court.

The military handled the inquiry, because all soldiers are subject to Army discipline first. But that acquittal was thrown into doubt this week, after a court heard that there were questions over an alibi provided by Rome's then wife.

Prosecutor Simon Kealey told Teesside Crown Court: "What has come to light subsequently is that his then wife's evidence may not have been entirely truthful."

Detective Sergeant Nigel Costello said the woman, with whom Rome had a son who is now serving in Iraq, has now made a new statement about the events of April, 1984.

Furthermore, the two rapes in England and Germany, which occurred within months of each other, were in "very similar circumstances", he said.

He added that a team of three officers had travelled to Germany to interview the rape victim, now aged 38, about her ordeal. She was prepared to travel to England to give evidence at Rome's trial if necessary.

Meanwhile, police in Northern Ireland, and several other forces, including Humberside, Hampshire and Kent, are scouring their unsolved cases to see if any match up with the time when Rome was based at other Army bases.

DNA vital in checks on Sally's killer

DNA may also play a key role in whether the serial sex attacker who killed Cambridge student Sally Geeson was responsible for any unsolved crimes.

Lance Corporal David Atkinson murdered Sally, who was 22, and dumped her naked body in a cemetery after picking her up on New Year's Eve outside a pub.

Detectives have since begun checking his 13-year military career for other attacks, after a number of women came forward to say they had been assaulted or approached by him.

Police in Scotland have also begun cross-checking Atkinson's DNA with samples of other cases in the hope of making a connection.

Menace of the Sex Gangster

THE Sex Gangster. That was the name used by the German media two decades ago for the perpetrator of a series of offences which were linked with Andrew Rome.

The then 20-year-old British soldier was accused of raping a young German girl after threatening her with a knife on the doorstep of her Berlin home.

The 18-year-old girl had been at her home in the city's Spandau area on April 11, 1984, waiting for a friend when there was a knock on her door.

On answering it, she was confronted by a young, English-speaking man who threatened her with a knife before launching his attack.

A medical examination of the teenager a few hours later revealed scratches and bite marks on her throat, along with internal wounds described as typical of a rape.

At about the same time, at least three women had complained about a prowler in the Spandau area. The man had been seen creeping around at night - usually in civilian clothes, but sometimes with his face covered.

He was spotted climbing over fences and roofs, peeping through people's windows, particularly when women were undressing, and terrifying those inside.

On one occasion, nine women who had been observing the man managed to seize him just after midnight, and called the police.

Their "prisoner", Rome, was then handed over to the British authorities.

His appearance matched a police artist's drawing of the 18-year-old girl's attacker, which was produced about three months after her ordeal.

A British Military Police special investigation branch held an identity parade on July 19 at the Brooke Barracks, in Berlin.

Three other women who had been victims of attempted rape were invited to attend. Two declined, while the third was unable to identify her assailant.

But the 18-year-old picked out Rome from the line-up of eight soldiers.

Up to 15 files of unsolved sexual crimes with similar characteristics in the Spandau area were handed over to the Military Police to determine whether Rome had been involved.

They were investigated, but Rome was not believed to be responsible.

A court in Berlin heard that Rome had no alibi for the time of the offence in April and was not on duty.

He also said the description the woman gave of her attacker was too general.

The jury - made up of five officers, four of whom were male - found Rome not guilty.

After the case, the victim said: "I am deeply shocked by the verdict. That gives all English soldiers free licence to rape German girls."

Updated: 09:57 Friday, February 04, 2005