Rapist traced by DNA jailed for 12 years 'a danger to the public'

A RAPIST who escaped justice until he struck again and was traced through DNA evidence was branded a danger to the public and jailed for 12 years yesterday.

John Ikhine, 32, a Nigerian who had been a student in Aberdeen, was also told by a judge that he would be deported at the end of the sentence.

The first attack occurred just before Christmas 2006. Ikhine, who was studying at Robert Gordon University, hoping for a job in the oil industry, met a 21-year-old woman. She was on a night out with friends in Aberdeen city centre and struck up a conversation with Ikhine.

They went to an area near Porthill Court, where, the woman later reported to police, she was pinned to the ground and raped.

Officers recovered DNA evidence, but no match was made with any profiles held on file, and efforts to trace the attacker proved fruitless.

Two years later, a 26-year-old woman, who knew Ikhine, reported him to the police for attacking and raping her in her flat in Aberdeen.

He had left university and gone to live with his brother in Middlesbrough, Teesside, and was arrested and returned to Scotland. His DNA was taken and it was found to match the sample from the earlier incident.

At a trial last month, Ikhine denied both offences. He claimed the first woman had been willing to accompany him and to engage in sexual contact which had stopped short of intercourse.

He said the sex with the second woman had been consensual. However, she told the jury that Ikhine had pushed her on to a bed and had pulled a scarf around her neck, restricting her breathing. She said he then partially stripped her and raped her.

The jury convicted Ikhine of both rape charges.

At yesterday's sentencing hearing at the High Court in Edinburgh, Ikhine continued to protest his innocence.