A FATHER has admitted the attempted rape of a woman on a university campus - 11 years after committing the crime.

Steven Sellars, of Bramham Grove, Chapelfields, York, carried out the attack in a wooded area of the University of York campus, in April 1996.

He was caught when he returned a craft knife his son had accidentally taken home from school.

That led to police taking the 41-year-old's DNA, and he was arrested for the attempted rape less than two weeks later.

Sellars, who has a previous conviction for rape, will be sentenced after the preparation of background reports.