Son's DNA nails fiend 20 years on

The People
BYLINE: Fiona May

Ipswich, Suffolk

A MASKED knifeman who repeatedly raped a teenager 20 years ago has been nailed - by his son's DNA.

Phil Collins, 50, believed he had escaped justice after the terrifying assault.

But one of his sons gave a DNA sample after being arrested for shoplifting.

A cold-case review revealed the link to evidence left by Collins when he pounced on the 17-year-old girl in a park at Ipswich, Suffolk, in 1990.

He was jailed for 10 years after being found guilty at Ipswich Crown Court of rape, indecent assault and another serious offence.

The court heard that cleaner Collins, of Ipswich, forced his victim to strip to her socks at knifepoint.

Det Chief Insp Rick Munns, of Suffolk police, said: "This sends a message to anyone who thinks they have escaped justice. With every advance in science it is only a matter of time before they are arrested."

Paul Hutchinson, 51 - also trapped by his son's DNA - was jailed last week for the 1983 sex murder of a girl, 16, in Nottinghamshire. It was the first case featured on TV's Crimewatch.

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