DETECTIVE Sergeant Adam Waller was running the incident room when they were hunting for Jeffrey Hickey, who raped a young woman in her bedroom after scaling a drainpipe.

He said: “It was a huge relief when we caught Hickey. He was not known to his victim and our priority was to make sure we didn’t end up with another victim.

“It was a disturbing case as his victim was in a first floor flat that had the window open. Most people would think they were safe in that environment but he climbed the drainpipe to gain entry through her bedroom window.

“We had to consider if he was a burglar to use this method – in fact he had burgled in the past although he wasn’t prolific.

“For a week or so we worked very long hours and pursued every line of enquiry to try and prevent him raping again.

“We had a very good result with forensic evidence from low copy DNA, which takes some time to get a result from, and he also left a footprint in the sand – we found the matching trainer in his house still with sand on it.

“The rape happened on July 27, 2007 and we locked him up 13 days later. It was a nervous wait for the DNA results but it turned out that Hickey was known to us.

“Hickey had convictions showing he was escalating his behaviour. He is a very worrying and cold individual but thankfully these people are few and far between.

“He had not long come out of jail before committing this offence. He had been inside for a nasty assault and was out on licence.

“He pleaded guilty before trial and got an indeterminate sentence.

“When his prison tariff expires he will be assessed by probation to determine if he is still a risk to society.

“Hickey was a relative unknown to us before this offence but now he is on the sex offenders’ register and when he comes out of prison he will be managed by police.

“Philip Mogg and Jeffrey Hickey were convicted of stranger rapes and I have been involved in investigating their crimes. They are horrible individuals and will stand out in my mind for their chilling crimes.”