A man who became known as the M25 rapist has been referred for parole a week after a decision to free another serial sex attacker.

Antoni Imiela, 63, was given seven life sentences in 2004 for a series of rapes across the Home Counties against women and girls as young as 10.

The railway worker, from Appledore near Ashford in Kent, carried out his attacks on women and girls he had never met.

He grabbed them and dragged them into a secluded area, threatening to kill them and hit them.

A spokesman for the Parole Board said: "We can confirm that the Ministry of Justice has referred the case of Antoni Imiela for a parole review."


It added that the review is "following the standard six-month process for all indeterminate sentence prisoners".

However, it is understood that any hearing to decide Imiela's parole is unlikely to take place in the next six months.

After his 2004 conviction, Imiela's DNA was put on a police database.

A cold case review into a sex attack that happened on Christmas Day 1987 found a match between the victim, 31-year-old mother of two Sheila Jankowitz, and Imiela.

Image: John Worboys carried out his attacks between 2002 and 2008

He was then jailed for 12 years at the Old Bailey in March 2013 after being found guilty of rape, indecent assault and another serious sex offence against Jankowitz.

Imiela's parole referral comes after the controversial decision to release black cab rapist John Worboys.

Worboys was jailed indefinitely in 2009 with a minimum term of eight years, for drugging and sexually assaulting female passengers.

The 60-year-old carried out his attacks between 2002 and 2008.

Many of his victims had been drinking in trendy West End and Chelsea bars.

The cab driver, who is also a former stripper, would offer them champagne spiked with powerful sedatives to celebrate a made-up lottery win, which he would attempt to prove by showing his victims a carrier bag stuffed with cash.

Worboys would then pounce on his victims in the back of his vehicle as they were left insensible and unable to protect themselves.

The chairman of the Parole Board was forced to apologise after it emerged that some of Worboys' victims were not told of his release.

A review into how the Parole Board made its decision has been launched as a result.