A MAN accused of raping a stranger more than 20 years ago was later convicted of seven violent sex attacks, a court heard today.

Antoni Imiela, 57, originally from Newton Aycliffe, was jailed for life in 2004 with a minimum term of eight years, a jury was told.

He committed a series of seven rapes across south east England, all on females he did not know.

Jurors at the Old Bailey were today given a short summary of what had occurred in each of the attacks.

The victims were grabbed, punched and threatened. Some were tied up, the court heard.

Prosecutor Richard Hearnden told the jury that Imiela's minimum term meant he became eligible to apply for parole on March 4 this year.

Imiela is now on trial for raping Sheila Jankowitz near her south east London flat in the early hours of Christmas Day, 1987.

Mrs Jankowitz, who died in 2006, said she was dragged behind a shed, repeatedly punched and threatened with a brick during the attack.

Imiela denies rape, indecent assault and buggery and claims that he had consensual sex with her.

Mr Hearnden previously told the jury: "Between November 2001 and the Autumn of the following year, in a savage and perverted campaign against total strangers, Antoni Imiela raped seven other females.

"He was linked to each of those rapes by the presence of his DNA. He denied those offences and he stood trial for them. In March 2004 he was found guilty of those rapes by a jury."

Imiela was charged with the attack on Mrs Jankowitz after a cold case team reviewed the case and found a DNA match.

The trial continues.