A rapist sexually assaulted two women in the two weeks it took to match his DNA profile to an earlier attack, a court heard today.
Lawrence Dugbazah, 31, was not on the police database when he attacked his first 19 year-old victim in January 2009.
But six weeks later he was arrested for an unrelated offence and his sample and photograph were taken by detectives.
It took another two weeks for the DNA match to be made and for Dugbazah to be arrested - but by that time he said to have targeted two more victims.
Although there is no scientific evidence linking him to the second and third attacks, all three bear 'striking similarities', said prosecutor Tana Adkin.
She added: 'Of the 958 stranger rapes between January 2009 and August 2010 there are only these three that are so similar that they can be connected.
'There have been no similar offences since Lawrence Dugbazah was arrested.'
Miss Adkin told the Old Bailey in London that a researcher working for the police had identified 14 striking similarities between the three attacks.
She said all three victims were young women walking home from in the early hours of the morning.
The first victim, aged 19, was attacked in Camden, North London, as she made her way home at 2.15am on January 9, 2010.
She had stopped to note down details of a job advert in a shop window when Dugbazah grabbed her around the waist and dragged her into the doorway of a shop.
In full view of the CCTV camera he pushed her to the ground and threatened to kill her.He then pinned her down, tore off her clothes and raped her after telling her to 'act like she was enjoying it', the court heard.
Dugbazah left his DNA behind at the scene but was not at that time on the police database.
His profile was only taken on March 11 after he was arrested for another matter.
But he went on to attack another victim two days later 'before it was processed and put on to the database', said Miss Adkin.
He attacked a 22 year-old woman walking back from a friend's party in Lewisham, South-East London, at 2.30am on March 13, it is claimed.
Dugbazah followed her into an alleyway and then pushed her to the ground, it is claimed.
He then began sexually assaulting her, the court heard.
'This was a precursor to raping her,' said Miss Adkin. 'The attack was disturbed by a man walking along the pavement and he runs away.' The court heard his face was captured on CCTV as he walked away.
'There is a rather distinctive walk shown by the same man in the footage,' said Miss Adkin.
On March 21 the third victim, an 18 year-old girl, was on her way to a friend's house after leaving a nightclub on the King's Road, Chelsea.
She was grabbed from behind and shoved her into an alcove by a shop.
She tried to fight him off but he pinned her down and pulled off her clothes before sexually assaulting and raping her, the court heard.
'She tried to calm him down by speaking to him,' said Miss Adkin. 'She told him she was a virgin and indicated she might be prepared to have sex with him.
'Sadly she was a virgin and this was her first experience.'
The man told her to pretend to be his girlfriend and then relaxed his grip allowing her to run down the road and get help from a taxi driver.
She prepared an efit of the attacker but was not able to identify him on a parade.
Dugbazah was arrested on March 25 after his DNA profile was matched to the first rape, the court heard.
'By 25th March the DNA profile of Lawrence Dugbazah had been put on to the database and identified as matching the semen in the [first] case,' said Miss Adkin.
Dugbazah pleaded guilty to raping the first 19 year-old woman in June last year but denies attacking the other two.
Miss Adkin said: 'The issue is not whether they were attacked but who attacked them. The prosecution say the man responsible is Lawrence Dugbazah because he has done it before.'
Dugbazah, of South-East London, denies attempted rape and assault by penetration of the 22 year-old woman and rape and attempted rape of the 18 year-old woman.
The trial continues.
