Police fear serial sex attacker

Detectives believe a serial sex attacker is preying on women following two rapes within three weeks of each other.

The attacks, one on Wimbledon Common - close to where Rachel Nickell was murdered 10 years ago - and the other on adjoining Putney Heath bear remarkable similarities.

On both occasions the rapist had a similar accent. He approached the victims in daylight from behind and then dragged them into undergrowth. One police officer said today: "We believe we are looking at the same man and are also trying to find out whether these are linked to any other attacks."

In the latest incident at midday on Tuesday a woman dog-walker in her fifties was raped at knifepoint close to Camp Road, Wimbledon Common.

She was forced into bushes by a white man, with a North-east accent and aged in his thirties or forties.

Police believe potential witnesses may have mistaken the victim and suspect for a courting couple.

At 5pm on Thursday 11 July a 22-year-old woman was grabbed from behind and raped near Roehampton Lane. She has described her attacker as white with a Geordie accent.

There is no evidence to link the attacks with the murder of Ms Nickell, who was sexually assaulted and stabbed 49 times on the common in 1992.