Surrey Police realised King and Bromwich were one and the same

Surrey Police had realised a year earlier that Tony King and the so-called "Holloway Strangler" Tony Bromwich were one and the same person.

The force gave Interpol his fingerprint details, along with information on his past crimes and his address in Spain.

Interpol traced him to that address in 1999 - the year it is alleged he strangled one of the two young women he is accused of murdering.

We had no other evidence and no DNA Surrey Police source

A Surrey Police source said: "We also advised them that he posed a serious threat to women."

Barman King, 38, is being held in jail in Spain accused of killing Sonia Carabantes, 17, in August, and Rocio Wanninkhof, 19, in 1999.

Sonia was found strangled and beaten five days after she went missing on 14 August on her way home from a fiesta.

Alleged rape

Rocio disappeared from her home in October 1999 and was found strangled and naked. She had not been sexually assaulted.

Scotland Yard has set up Operation Washfield to help Spanish police with the investigation.

It has taken calls from five UK police forces about King and is trying to draw up a time line of his movements.

Surrey Police said on Thursday they had contacted Interpol after investigating King over the alleged rape of a 21-year-old Hungarian student near Leatherhead railway station.

The offence in 1997 was later treated as an indecent assault.

King was identified as the suspect an appeal on BBC's Crimewatch programme on 2 September that year.

Fingerprints in flat

Surrey Police went to his home - only to find he had gone to Spain the day before the programme was broadcast, with his wife.

They established that King was Tony Bromwich after checking fingerprints from his flat.

The student, who returned to Hungary, had picked King out from CCTV footage, but would have to pick him out from a line-up to give a positive identification allowing police in the UK to demand extradition.

A Surrey Police source said: "We had no other evidence and no DNA.

Traced to address

"We consulted with the Crown Prosecution Service, but were advised by them that there was not enough evidence to extradite him from Spain."

The force contacted King's family and his solicitors to try to bring him back to the UK but without success.

In January 1999, Interpol confirmed to Surrey Police that Spanish officers had traced King to the address they had been given.