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Police determined to catch attacker
DETECTIVES investigating the brutal rape of a Peterborough woman say they are leaving "no stone unturned" in their hunt to find her attacker, who remains at large.
DETECTIVES investigating the brutal rape of a Peterborough woman say they are leaving "no stone unturned" in their hunt to find her attacker, who remains at large.The police determination to catch the sex fiend before he strikes again came as it was revealed that a specialist campaign to DNA screen men in two areas of Peterborough has seen about 300 homes visited.
The house-to-house team are halfway through the extensive mouth swabbing process in Ravensthorpe and Westwood, which began on Monday, June 22. They are planning to take samples from about 700 men between the ages of 16 and 33.
It follows the rape of a 27-year-old woman, who was grabbed from behind on a cycle path, in Gresley Way, Westwood, at about 3.20am on Tuesday, May 19.
The mother-of-two was on her way to work at the time and she was strangled and pushed to the floor, where she lost consciousness. Medical tests later confirmed she had been raped.
She has given police a description of her attacker as aged 19 to 33, about 5ft 9ins tall and of medium build.
He was wearing a white baseball cap and light-coloured clothing at the time.
In the first 10 days of the operation, a team of 12 officers – hoping to knock on more than 700 doors to gather samples from up to 2,000 men – have made good progress.
Detective Sergeant Martyn Elmer said: “The house-to-house team has so far completed visits to about 300 homes, so we are nearly half way through.
“This is an extremely thorough process and we are leaving no stone unturned.
“We need to ensure we get swabs from every relevant person at the homes we are visiting. But we understand that people often work shifts or have busy social lives, so we will revisit each home as often as we need to.
“We are grateful to everyone who has helped with the investigation so far.”
He said it takes roughly seven days from when a batch of swabs is sent away to getting results back, so they could quickly eliminate people from their enquires.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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