A US citizen who was extradited to the UK to stand trial has been found guilty of a violent rape he committed 20 years ago.
Pierre Antoine Bate, 42,, of Maricopa Drive, Santa Barbara broke in and carried out a violent and sustained attack on a woman in her south London home.
During the early hours of July 22 1996 the victim awoke in her Thornton Heath home to find Bate in her bedroom staring at her.
He told her that a friend of his was with her children in the room next door, and then placed his arm across her throat and raped and indecently assaulted her several times for more than an hour and a half, when he fled the scene and the victim was able to call police.
Detectives investigating the crime managed to recover a partial DNA profile, but at that time it was not enough to identify a suspect.
However, in 2011, a forensic review of the investigation was conducted, and material taken at the time of the original investigation was examined using enhanced DNA techniques.
As a result, a new DNA profile was obtained, which linked Bate to the crime when it was compared against the national DNA database.
Bate was extradited from America on February 23 this year to face trial.
He was on the database after he was convicted in 2008 of a sexual offence committed in Kentish Town in 1995.
Police identified Bate as the suspect in the Kentish Town attack following a 2004 cold case investigation..
Bate had been extradited from the US to the UK for this 2008 trial and was subsequently sentenced to 26 months imprisonment, but had returned to the US upon his release.
Detective Sergeant Karen Bradley, Sexual Offences, Exploitation and Child Abuse Command, said: "Thanks to developments in forensics and our commitment to identify and arrest people no matter how much time has passed, Bate is today facing a long time in prison.
"He had thought that he wouldn't get caught, despite moving to the US we brought him back to London to face justice. He is a dangerous man, who broke into the house that night with the sole intention of committing rape.
"The victim has shown huge courage in supporting our investigation and the court case, after a vicious and prolonged attack in her home with her children asleep close by.
"I would appeal for any victims of sexual assault to come forward safe in the knowledge they will be listened to and have their allegations fully investigated. We are committed to bringing perpetrators of rape and sexual offences to justice."
Bate was convicted today at Southwark Crown Court after a jury found him guilty of eight counts of rape and one count of burglary with intent to rape following a two week trial.
He will be sentenced at the same court on August 12.
