Probe starts after serial sex offender convicted

By Tim Castle

LONDON (Reuters) - An independent investigation has begun into how a serial sex attacker who preyed on dozens of women in London was not arrested until four years after he became a suspect.

Scotland Yard apologised for the delays in arresting Kirk Reid, a 44-year-old chef, who was found guilty at Kingston Crown Court on Thursday of stalking and attacking 25 women in the Balham, Clapham and Tooting areas of southwest London.

The case comes in the same month as the conviction of a London taxi driver who went on to commit repeated offences against his women passengers after being arrested but released by police.

Many of Reid's victims had been returning home late at night and had either just got off their bus or had emerged from underground stations.

The children's football coach was also found guilty at the end of a seven-week trial of raping a woman he seized in the street in March 2002 as well as the rape of a former partner in 1995.

"Reid should have been arrested sooner and I, on behalf of the Metropolitan Police Service ... am sorry those women who were subsequently attacked by him have been caused unnecessary suffering," said Commander Mark Simmons.

Police believe Reid could be responsible for at least 71 attacks on women, the Press Association reported.

Officers in Wandsworth had identified him in February 2004 as a "person of interest" in their investigation of a number of sexual assaults since 2001.