Antoni Imiela denied nine counts of rape and one of abduction

The woman was walking her dog when she was grabbed from behind by Imiela.

He terrorised her with his deep-voiced demands and threatened her with a knife.

She was just one of his seven victims - most of whom were grabbed from behind and often had their mouths or eyes covered by his hands.

The 52-year-old mother who was raped on Wimbledon Common, London, described the events during a Crimewatch appeal, when Imiela was still at large. She said: "He just literally slammed into the back of me."

It's extraordinarily difficult for my children to have to cope with the fact their mother was raped 52-year-old victim

When he left, she said Imiela told her not to move for five minutes or he would come back and slit her throat "and then he was gone".

But she said that other effects of the attack had stayed with her.

Speaking on the television programme, she said: "The awful thing I think about rape is that it does make victims of the whole family.

"It's extraordinarily difficult for my children to have to cope with the fact their mother was raped."

The woman, who was attacked on 6 August 2002, walked her dogs every day on the common and had arrived there at about midday.

Knife threat

She said: "I was actually feeling really quite happy that morning."

Describing the moment that Imiela grabbed her, she said: "His voice was low and husky - I realised he was strong."

He threatened her with a knife. She said: "I realised this was serious.

"He seemed to be really relishing my distress.

"I really thought I don't just want to be a dead body that's found on Wimbledon Common."

At one point the woman said she thought of trying to "make a break" and attempting "to get back to the car".

Then she said: "He grabbed me again and pushed me down. I just let him get on with it."

Special measures

The sheer number of 49-year-old Imiela's victims led to prosecutors in Kent having to apply for more special measures to help vulnerable people than in any other such case.

Elizabeth Howe, chief crown prosecutor for Kent, said: "It was probably the highest number of witnesses we have had to make applications for."

She said that allowing children to give evidence by video link in the company of their parents and letting adults speak from behind screens in court to avoid eye-to-eye contact with the defendant had become "fairly standard practice, particularly with traumatic and sensitive events".

"We seek to provide support and for people to give evidence in a more comfortable and safe environment," she said.

They can give the evidence they want to give Elizabeth Howe, CPS

"It's about their comfort and getting a result - and so they can give the evidence they want to give by protecting and supporting them and reducing intimidation.

"Some people find it cathartic, but it is not an experience they are going to find comfortable."

In the case of Imiela, the fact that identification was an issue led to some help for his victims.

Ms Howe said: "We have an adversarial system.

"In this particular case we liaised carefully with the defence.

"We tried to reduce challenges to their evidence - because the issue was identification rather than what had happened."

The case of a 12-year-old girl who was attacked in Bracknell, Berkshire, on 1 July 2002 did not go to court because of the trauma it would have caused her.

Detective Superintendent Mark Warwick said the victim had "suffered tremendously".

"We took a decision with the family over the victim's welfare that she was too traumatised to be able to give evidence in this case."

He said Thames Valley Police had felt there was "credible evidence" to put before the jury but even with a video-link police were not willing to take the chance of putting the victim through the trauma.

"That case is closed, we are satisfied we have identified the person who committed that offence."