Mr Imiela denies nine counts of rape and one of abduction

Under cross-examination, Antoni Imiela agreed the rapist tormented victims and showed considerable callousness.

Mr Imiela, 49, of Appledore, Kent, denies committing nine rapes in Kent, Surrey, west London and Hertfordshire.

He also denies charges of kidnap and indecent assault in Birmingham, in the continuing Maidstone Crown Court case.

Hates women

Mr Imiela told the court he had read through all the paperwork on the case "hoping to find something that showed it was not me".

He said he could see similarities between attacks, but did not necessarily agree they were all committed by the same person.

Mark Dennis, prosecuting, told the former railway worker the rapist seemed to have a "dual personality", was obsessed with asking victims if they were virgins and showed "contempt for females".

Mr Imiela said: "More than that, he's a beast. He is hating women."

Fingerprint claim

He also said he was not responsible for raping a 26-year-old woman in Epsom, Surrey, on 7 August 2002.

Mr Imiela said that when a grandmother thought he was following her granddaughter in St Albans, Hertfordshire, he had been giving a lift to a gay man he met in London and not following the teenager.

He claimed a fingerprint taken from a bag after an alleged rape in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, on 25 October 2002, was put there by police.

Mr Imiela claimed there was something "odd going on" when a fingerprint expert moved his little finger on to plastic, when his solicitor was not present.

'I haven't done it'

He also told the court of conversations he had with work colleagues about prostitutes.

These were alleged to have been about teenagers, but he said he did not look for young girls.

Mr Dennis said Mr Imiela had a great deal in common with the attacker, including height, age, short hair, a north-east accent and opportunity.

He said to the defendant: "Are you having difficulty in facing up to what you have been doing?"

Mr Imiela said: "I have no difficulty in looking at the jury and saying I haven't done it."

The trial was adjourned.