Rapist dies of suspected heart attack

A NOTORIOUS sex attacker who raped women and girls as young as 10 has died in prison.

Antoni Imiela, known as the M25 rapist, was given seven life sentences at Maidstone Crown Court in March 2004 following a series of rapes across the south east.

Imiela, 63, died on Thursday March 8 of a suspected heart attack in HMP Wakefield; he is believed to have been suffering from heart problems previously.

The German-born former railway worker bound, gagged and beat his victims before subjecting them to serious sexual assaults.

He targeted eight female victims aged between 10 and 52; he stripped, tied up and taunted them before raping them in fields and parkland areas around the M25.

DNA was collected from the scenes of the crimes in Kent, west London, Hertfordshire and Surrey, but it was only when a neighbour rang Crimestoppers with suspicions about Imiela that the culprit was caught.

The former resident of Appledore in Kent was being considered for release in January after serving a total of 14 years in jail.

Born in 1954 to a Polish father, who was a soldier, and a German mother, Imiela spent part of his early childhood in a displaced people’s camp as his parents were both refugees.

The family moved to the UK in 1961 and spent time in Worthing, West Sussex, before eventually settling in Newton Aycliffe in the north east of England.

His parents split up a few years after arriving in the UK.

DNA also linked the then unsolved case of Mrs Jankowitz, who died before the 2012 conviction, to Imiela when forensic experts reviewing unsolved cases matched his profile to the attack in Sydenham, south east London.

Sentencing him to 12 years, Judge John Bevan QC said in 2012: “You are wholly unrepentant about your life of guns, rape and general violence and, despite having served eight years of your life sentence, you have not expressed one jot of remorse.”