Black police undergo DNA tests to trace rapist

Detectives hunting Britain's worst serial sex attacker are to take revolutionary and controversial DNA samples of their black colleagues today.

It is thought a new genetic mapping process will reveal the Caribbean origins of the rapist and burglar known as the Night Stalker.

Specialists are carrying out voluntary-tests on detectives, officers and civilian staff at Scotland Yard who originate from the West Indies.

The samples will be sent to an American laboratory for comparison to the rapist's DNA to identify his ancestry. Senior officers called off the first tests amid concern that the Black Police Association had objected.

But Leroy Logan, head of the Met's BPA, said: "We did not oppose this, we simply did not want to make it BPA policy. We felt it was down to each individual officer to decide to give a test. It was someone in senior management who delayed the plan." Detective Chief Inspector Will O'Reilly, who is leading the operation to catch the rapist, said: "We hope to get 50 to 60 people from a wide spread of the Caribbean. This could give us crucial new information."

The technology was developed from research that helped discover the roots of Adam, the boy whose torso was found in the River Thames. For 12 years the attacker has targeted lone female pensioners and is believed to have struck more than 80 times across south London.

He is believed to be around 35 and possibly light-skinned. He wears a balaclava and a black nylon catsuit, which may be a motorcycle outfit. He may have links to Brighton, which he spoke of during one offence.