Ten life terms for rapist

A masked rapist who stalked the suburbs was today given 10 life sentences.

Questions were being asked about how he was allowed into Britain despite being a serial sex offender in his native Cyprus.

Anthia roamed around north London suburbs, Hatfield and St Albans in his builder's van.

He grabbed at least 10 women from behind before dragging them "kicking and screaming" into undergrowth.

Anthia, of Harringay, subjected his victims to a further ordeal by pleading not guilty, forcing them to give evidence in court, until suddenly changing his mind. Judge John Bevan, QC, said he was "predatory, dangerous, violent and incorrigible" and had carried out a "systematic campaign".

Anthia remained motionless and stared straight ahead as sentence was passed. The judge told him he had caused incalculable harm to his victims and had shown no remorse, adding: "You should be released from prison only when you are physically infirm."

In Cyprus Anthia had 21 convictions, committing his first sex attack at 14, and was known as "The Dragon".

He had even begged for treatment to curb what he called his "uncontrollable passion". But he was waved through UK passport control.

Shadow home secretary David Davis today demanded to know how a man with such a record was allowed into the country. Mr Davis said: "This is a tragic case that would horrify any young woman or parent. Why was his background not discovered when he applied for permanent residency?"

Soon after arriving in the UK in 1998 Anthia married British citizen Ruth Demetriou, 33, whom he had met in the resort of Ayia Napa.

They had a daughter and following the marriage he was granted leave to live in Britain permanently. Within weeks, however, he had begun his attacks.

His first known victim was a French student who was walking to her brother's house in Holloway in 1999.

His DNA was traced and he was arrested and charged. However, his 26-year-old victim was too traumatised to give evidence and the case against him collapsed.

He went on to attack another nine women, beginning in January 2003 when he raped a 19-year-old near a Tube station in Enfield.

Over the following year he stalked and attacked a further eight women, including three teenagers, in London and Hertfordshire. Other attacks in north London took place in Southgate and Winchmore Hill.

If any of his victims looked at his face or tried to resist, they were hit. Anthia, of West Green Road, Harringay, even demanded to know from his victims whether they had enjoyed the attack.

Prosecutor Miranda Moore, QC, told St Albans Crown Court: "This is a man driven to commit increasingly violent attacks on women increasingly close together. The violence meted out to later victims was there for all to see, black eyes and bruises."

Despite DNA evidence from the scene of two of the attacks which matched those taken from the 1999 rape, Anthia pleaded not guilty when his trial opened.

Police were, however, allowed to use the 1999 attack on the French student in their case against him.

Detectives had found the woman in western France and she agreed to give evidence via a video link. When Anthia was informed of this he changed his plea to guilty.

Miss Moore said: "The pivotal moment in this case has been officers travelling to France and persuading the victim of the 1999 rape to give evidence against in this trial."

The Frenchwoman has spoken of her regret that she did not pursue the case following her rape.

She spoke of her "absolute sadness that I didn't bring him to justice" and added: "It breaks my heart to think of what he has done to those other young women.

"To this day even my own parents don't know what I went through. I was a young, shy woman who did not know much about life. There were all kinds of pressures on me to testify in court, but I could not go through with it.

"I was terrified of Anthia and the thought of having to face him again. After what he did to me, I never wanted to see him again. To this day I feel exactly the same."

Anthia raped six women, four of whom he raped twice. Four charges of attempting to rape three other women were replaced with causing actual bodily harm, which he also admitted. He got four years for each assault charge.

Police plan to interview him about other attacks in Britain.

His arrest followed a painstaking investigation. Detective Inspector Mark Ross of Hertfordshire police, said that Anthia "has a complete disregard for women" whom he sees "merely as sexual objects to be violent and aggressive towards".

Mr Ross added: "The evidence against Anthia was overwhelming. It's a pity that his victims had to go through the ordeal of giving evidence before he changed his mind. I pay tribute to them and their bravery in coming forward."

He praised the "diligence and dedication" of his officers.

Hertfordshire MP Mike Penning said there should have been more thorough checks. He added: "I would think that in this age, the police would have better liaison and the immigration service would have better checks.

"People's lives have been destroyed because the system let them down."