Fare dodger faces life for rape

A man has been convicted of raping a woman in London five years ago, after being caught fare dodging in Germany.

Dominic Mailat, 43, who was arrested on a train and extradited, admitted raping and assaulting the woman after meeting at the July 2000 Mardi Gras festival.

The Old Bailey heard he tried to strangle her and hit her with a broom handle, knocking out three teeth.

He was tracked down after being made the case of a cold case review. The judge said he could get a life term.

His Spanish victim was in court.

She had been waiting for friends at the ticket booth for Mardi Gras, a gay and lesbian festival in Finsbury Park, north London, when Mailat spotted her and said he could get her tickets.

'I am going to die'

But instead he drove her to a flat in Wood Green, north London, the Old Bailey heard.

Prosecutor Mark Kimsey said she fought back, but he punched her and hit her in the face with a broom handle and a chair and raped her.

"She thought 'I am going to die'," said Mr Kimsey.

She only escaped by jumping from a landing window.

Mailat fled Britain, but he was made the subject of a cold case review - when police use new techniques to look at unsolved cases.

It had proved difficult to trace him through DNA, as it was linked to a false name he had used.

Palm print

But a police officer was able to make the link to Mailat, after comparing fingerprints with a palm print last year.

An international arrest warrant was issued and he was extradited after being arrested five months later in Germany for fare-dodging on a train.

The Old Bailey was told he had been jailed for seven years in Romania for rape in 1988 and also had a conviction for robbery.

He was remanded in custody until 20 February, but Judge Richard Hawkins said he was considering a life sentence.