A man has been arrested by detectives involved in a massive countrywide manhunt for a serial rapist.

Operation Lynx was started last summer after DNA tests revealed links between five attacks on women - the first of which took place in Bradford in December 1982.

Today, West Yorkshire Police said a 40-year-old man was arrested by police in Leeds.

A force spokesman confirmed that the arrest was made as part Operation Lynx which is investigating the series of rapes carried out over a 15-year period in West Yorkshire and the Midlands and which has involved police forces across the country.

The first attack took place on a 30-year-old woman as she was parking her car behind St George's Hall.

She was driven in her own car to Leeds-Bradford Airport at Yeadon where the assault took place.

A month later in January 1983, a 26-year-old woman was attacked after being abducted from a car park at Leeds General Infirmary.

Another assault linked to the serial rapist took place in Leicester in 1984. There were two further attacks in 1993.

Last month, Thames Valley detectives started to investigate possible links with the death of millionaire's daughter Shani Warren, 26.

She was found drowned in Taplow Lane, Buckinghamshire in 1987.

Although her death was officially recorded as suicide, detectives were re-examining the case because of what they described as disturbing similarities with the attacks being investigated by the Operation Lynx team.

Operation Lynx was featured on the BBC's Crimewatch UK programme.

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