France rapist may have fled to UK

3:25am Saturday 30th August 2008

A man who raped a UK journalism student at an illegal immigrants' camp in Calais is believed be a people smuggler and may have fled to England, police have said.

An international manhunt was under way after the attack on a 31-year-old Canadian-born woman on Tuesday night.

She was set upon while visiting a makeshift camp nicknamed "the Jungle" near the port in Calais, the Boulogne-sur-Mer prosecutors' office said.

The woman, who was studying in London and had lived in Britain for years, had gone there to produce a photojournalism report.

French detectives believe she may have been attacked by a human trafficker, it was reported.

Vice-prosecutor Philippe Muller said photofit images of the rapist had been put together using descriptions by the victim and a witness.

The two pictures, which were described as "very similar", have been sent to the French ports, the British authorities and Interpol.

Mr Muller said there was a strong possibility the man was a people smuggler or migrant and had already left the country.

He said: "We fear he may well have already gone, possibly to England or to another French port. It's also possible he's gone to Belgium or the Netherlands."

Investigators have traces of the rapist's DNA and also his fingerprints to help identify him. It is believed he is not a French national but this possibility is not being ruled out, Mr Muller added.

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