port-of-spain, trinidad (ap)

British police will travel to Trinidad and Barbados next week to seek help in catching a serial rapist who is reportedly linked to nearly 100 attacks.

The rapist has eluded capture for more than a decade and may be from the Caribbean, an official said Thursday.

The suspect, one of Britain's most prolific sex offenders, has roots in the Caribbean and may spend extended periods of time in the region, London Metropolitan Police spokes-woman Kate Campbell said.

British investigators will begin meeting with Trinidadian authorities October 19, and later plan to travel to Barbados.

The suspect has been connected by DNA and other evidence to about 100 attacks against elderly women and men in southeast London dating back to 1990.

Scientists using an advanced form of DNA testing that can identify ancestral blood lines from forensic material have said the rapist is likely of Caribbean descent, Campbell said.

"We think he is British, but his ancestral DNA points to the Windward Islands," she said in a telephone interview from London.

London police have offered a reward of US$75,000 for information leading to his arrest and conviction.