Detectives hunting a sex pest who may have attacked nearly 100 elderly women over more than a decade have made an arrest.

A 36-year-old man was nabbed at his home in south London at around 8am today.

He is the fourth person to be taken into custody since the start of Operation Minstead, the massive Met inquiry set up to catch the serial sex attacker.

Police are now investigating 98 offences, mostly in south London, dating back to 1992. Four of his victims were raped and 27 sexually assaulted.

The man preyed on lone women, aged from 68 to 93, by breaking into their homes, usually through a back window, in the early hours of the morning.

In the most violent attack, in August 1999, the victim was raped twice, suffered a perforated bowel and almost died of her injuries.

He often removes light bulbs, disables the electricity and telephone and spends hours with his victims.

DNA techniques established the man's racial and geographical origin to be in the Caribbean. At first Scotland Yard identified about 20,000 possible suspects who fitted his profile.