Police hunt serial rapist

The rapist takes items of clothing from his victims

Women in Kent and Surrey are being warned a serial rapist responsible for four attacks could strike again.

Three of the assaults in Woking, Epsom and Redhill in Surrey took place inside six weeks this summer.

Those attacks are now being linked to the rape of a 10-year-old girl in Ashford, Kent.

Surrey Police and Kent Police have launched a joint hunt for the offender.

Police say the offender will strike again

Police have stressed, however, that he is not being connected with the disappearance of 13-year-old Amanda Dowler who vanished while walking home from Walton-on-Thames station, Surrey, in March.

Detective Superintendent Martin Parker, from Surrey Police, said in each case the man had attacked from behind, dragging the victims into nearby bushes before assaulting and raping them.

Most attacks have been in daylight close to public footpaths or busy roads, and have all been on weekdays.

Detectives said they had investigated the theory the attacker, who has no apparent means of transport, may have travelled by train from Waterloo in south London, which links all of the locations.

Police also think he may have taken the Eurostar when he attacked the girl in Ashford. The terminal there is close to the scene of the attack.

She was leaving a community centre when the rapist ran across the road and picked her up, before carrying her into a wooded area where she was raped.

The rapist is thought to have struck next on 11 July in Redhill, grabbing a 30-year-old woman near a common, punching her in the face a number of times.

The third attack five days later was on an 18-year-old who was walked through Goldsworth Park, Woking.

'Keepsakes' taken

She was grabbed round the neck from behind and dragged into the undergrowth where she was assaulted.

The final rape, of a 26-year-old woman, was on 7 August in a wooded area in Epsom, Surrey. The offender said he had a knife but no weapon was seen.

All the victims, except the one in Redhill, had some items of clothing taken, with police saying they could be "keepsakes".

In most of the attacks the rapist is described as white, aged between 30 and 45, with stubble and a low or hushed voice.

Police say the suspect may have moved from Ashford to the Surrey area recently.