Calais rapist 'may be trafficker'

Hundreds of migrants gather near French ports hoping to reach the UK

The man who raped a British-based Canadian student at an illegal migrants' camp near Calais could be a "people trafficker", investigators say.

Police have launched an international manhunt, saying the attacker could have fled to Britain or another country.

They have circulated two photo-fit pictures of the suspect, described as being of Middle Eastern origin.

The 31-year-old woman was attacked while photographing the site, called "the jungle", on Tuesday.

The Boulogne-sur-Mer prosecutors' office said that the photo-fit images had been created using descriptions from the victim and a witness.

The two pictures have been sent to British police, French police and to Interpol, said vice-prosecutor Philippe Muller. The pictures have not been made public.

DNA evidence

Mr Muller said there was a strong possibility that the rapist was a people smuggler or a migrant and had since left the country.

"We fear he may well have already gone, possibly to England or to another French port. It is also possible he has gone to Belgium or the Netherlands," he said.

Mr Muller said detectives had traces of the attacker's DNA and also his fingerprints.

The camp, in Woodland near the Calais ferry terminal, is one of several where illegal immigrants wait for the chance to smuggle themselves across the English Channel.

Many pay hundreds or even thousands of euros to trafficking gangs to get them across.

The immigrants in these camps are very respectful people and many are practising Muslims Father Jean-Pierre Boutoille, C'Sur refugee charity

Mr Muller said the attacker had told his victim he wanted to show her something and led her into one of the makeshift shelters. That was where the attack took place.

The victim - who has lived most of her life in the UK - is said to be still in shock and is being helped by the Pas-de-Calais Victim Support Association.

A police spokesman said: "You have to be very careful when entering these camps.

"The people there, mostly men, have an illegal status, they have no job and no home. The Jungle is a dangerous place and it's not safe to go there."

Father Jean-Pierre Boutoille, of the French refugee charity C'Sur, said it was not certain the attacker was an immigrant.

"The prosecutor said he can't say whether the rapist was an illegal immigrant or not but they do know he spoke fluent French," he said.

Inhumane conditions

"This suggests he was therefore not actually an illegal immigrant but someone else who was in the wood at that time as most of the illegal immigrants don't speak French."

He said that in six years of working with refugees he had never heard of such an attack by any of them.

"The immigrants in these camps are very respectful people and many are practising Muslims. The conditions they live in here are inhumane," he said.

In 2005 a group of migrants was reportedly implicated in the rape of a resident of Oye-Plage near Calais but such cases are said to be rare.