A serial sex attacker who remained at large for four years due to a police DNA blunder, was jailed for life.
Six of the offences committed by welder Mark Campbell, 38, from Chichester, West Sussex, including two rapes, were committed after police failed to act on a DNA sample taken from him during a hunt for a peeping Tom.
Campbell was convicted at Chichester Crown Court of a catalogue of crimes against girls and young women.
They included four counts of indecent assault, two counts of false imprisonment, three counts of rape, one count of attempted indecent assault, one count of sexual assault and two counts of burglary.
Sussex Police apologised for the blunder and said a senior police officer and a member of police staff had received "formal words of advice".
Assistant Chief Constable Jeremy Paine added: "There are no excuses. Having taken this particular sample, we didn't send it off for processing. That had consequences in that Campbell was at large for four years longer than he should have been.
"It should not have happened and we are very sorry that it did. We have done everything we can to learn the lessons so that nothing like it can happen again."
Campbell preyed on vulnerable girls and young women either in their homes or in isolated outdoor spots, mainly in the Bognor Regis and Chichester areas.
He first struck in February 1998 when he indecently assaulted a 27-year-old woman in Bognor after breaking into her home while her three young children slept upstairs.
In court, Campbell collapsed in the dock as he started to give his evidence and the trial had to be adjourned. But on Monday, after almost three days of deliberation, bespectacled Campbell sobbed as the jury foreman read out the verdicts.
