US 'serial killer' gets 438 years

A US court has sentenced a suspected serial killer to 438 years in jail for sexual assaults of two sisters in 2005.

Mark Goudeau attacked the women as they were walking from a park in the city of Phoenix, Arizona. One of the victims was six months pregnant at the time.

Goudeau, suspected of being the Baseline Killer, is also facing trial in connection with the murder of eight other women and a man in 2005-06.

If convicted, he could face a death sentence. He has pleaded not guilty.

Goudeau, 43, was sentenced by the Maricopa County Superior Court, following his conviction in September on charges of raping one woman and sexually attacking another.

During the two-month trial, both sisters identified the former construction worker as their attacker. DNA evidence also linked him to rape.

Goudeau had argued that he was innocent, saying that he "had nothing to do" with the assaults.

He is one of three men arrested last year in Phoenix suspected by the authorities of being the serial killers behind a spate of murders that caused serious concern among the city's residents.

Goudeau is suspected of being a serial killer dubbed the Baseline Killer, named after a street in south Phoenix where several of the attacks took place.