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Identical twins have appeared in court charged with raping a teenage girl – even though police cannot prove which one carried out the alleged attack.

Mohammed and Aftab Asghar, 22, were both arrested after DNA evidence was found at the scene which provided a possible link to one, or both, the brothers.

Since identical twins come from the same fertilised egg, they have the same DNA.

Police investigated after a girl aged 17 claimed she was attacked in a park near Reading, Berks, on Guy Fawkes Night 2011.

Detectives decided to charge both men.

Prosecutors have now requested more time to continue investigating lines of inquiry which may lead to only one of the brothers facing trial.

Prosecutor Sandra Beck told Reading crown court: “It is an unusual case. They are identical twins. The allegation is one of rape.

“There is further work due and there is an indication which would tend to support that one was not at the location.’’

No further details were revealed about the circumstances surrounding the alleged offence.

Ms Beck confirmed a trial date for the pair had already been set for December 2.

The twins from Reading, Berkshire, were granted bail with conditions by Recorder Lawrence West QC.

He ordered them to continue living and sleeping at their address in Reading, to report to Reading police station three times a week, not to contact the alleged victim and not to go to a particular village in Berkshire.

Even though identical twins are born with the same DNA, scientists have discovered that tiny genetic changes can occur to cells early in development, allowing for differences as twins grow older.

But even if these changes do occur they are normally so minute it is very difficult to distinguish them.

In February this year, identical twin brothers were arrested on suspicion of a series of rapes in France.

The 24-year-old suspects, named only as Yohan and Elwin, were accused of raping six women aged between 22 and 76 in the city of Marseille.

A chief investigator in France said that police were unable to determine which twin’s DNA was found at some of the crime scenes across the coastal city because regular tests could not distinguish between the two.