Antoni Imiela: 'M25 rapist' who was given seven life sentences for series of rapes in 2004 referred for parole

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A man dubbed the "M25 rapist" has been referred for parole a week after the decision to free another serial rapist caused furore.

Antoni Imiela was given seven life sentences in 2004 for a series of rapes across the Home Counties against women and girls as young as 10.

Last week it emerged John Worboys, the "black cab rapist" who was jailed indefinitely in 2009 with a minimum term of eight years for drugging and sexually assaulting female passengers, would be freed from prison.

Imiela, a 63-year-old railway worker from Appledore, near Ashford in Kent, carried out a series of attacks across the South East on women and girls he had never met.

He grabbed his victims, dragged them into a secluded area, threatened to kill them and hit them.

A spokesman for the Parole Board said: "We can confirm that the Ministry of Justice has referred the case of Antoni Imiela for a parole review.

"The review is following the standard six-month process for all indeterminate sentence prisoners and will be reviewed on the papers in the first instance.

"The review may be concluded on the papers or alternatively it may be directed to an oral hearing."

After his conviction in 2004, Imiela's DNA was put on a police database.

A cold case review of a 1987 Christmas Day sex attack found a match between the victim, 31-year-old Sheila Jankowitz, and Imiela.

He was then sentenced to 12 years at the Old Bailey in March 2013 after being found guilty of rape, indecent assault and another serious sex offence against the mother-of-two.