Rapist caught with trousers down

Bernard Wright was an illegal immigrant

A man who raped schoolgirls and women was finally caught with his trousers still round his ankles by residents who heard screams coming from a Croydon garden.

Knife wielding Bernard Wright, 29, struck seven times in the two weeks before Christmas 2002.

He was jailed for 15 years at Inner London Crown Court.

He deliberately singled out victims returning home alone at night.

The court heard Wright was finally caught attempting to rape a 16-year-old girl.

Residents heard her screams and called police who arrived so quickly his trousers were still halfway down his legs.

Wright pleaded guilty to two rapes, two attempted rapes and four indecent assaults on victims aged 15-38.

After one attack, a rape on a 23-year-old woman in Tulse Hill, who was too frightened to cry out or resist, he forced the woman to tell him her name and address and then chillingly said: "Next time, scream."