A man is expected to be charged after police used DNA to make a breakthrough in the investigation of a series of rapes committed in Sydney more than 15 years ago.

Strike Force McCoy was established in March 2004 to investigate 13 separate sexual assaults between August 2003 and November 2004 across Sydney’s inner west.

The incidents were linked by location and modus operandi, with four linked by a common DNA profile located at the crime scenes.

Despite exhaustive investigations at the time, including help from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the exploration of more than 3000 people of interest, no one was charged over the attacks.

In February last year, detectives from the State Crime Command’s Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad started reinvestigating the case.

Earlier this year, experts from NSW Health Pathology’s Forensic and Analytical Science Service advised they had established a familial DNA link in the case.

Further inquiries were conducted with help from the Forensic Evidence and Technical Services Command’s DNA Management Unit, which identified a DNA match.

Detectives arrested a 51-year-old man at Panania, in Sydney’s south at dawn on Monday.

He has been taken to Bankstown Police Station, where he is expected to be charged with multiple offences.

AAP

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