Southampton Sports Centre.

POLICE investigating the rape of a Southampton schoolgirl 13 years ago have arrested a man this morning, the Daily Echo can reveal.

Detectives swooped on an address in the Somerstown area of Portsmouth just after dawn where a 52-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of two counts of historic rape.

They relate to the rape in 1994 and an attack on a 19-year-old girl at a Portsmouth nightclub in 1990.

The arrest is the first major breakthrough in the case since detectives reopened the inquiry last year.

As previously reported in the Daily Echo police reopened the inquiry following fresh DNA evidence that linked other sex crimes with the Southampton attack that happened in November 1994.

The horrific attack involved a 14-year old girl who was attacked at the remote cricket pitch at Southampton Sports Centre by a man brandishing a knife.

The schoolgirl was making her way across the ground to visit a friend's house on the night of the first ever National Lottery draw, when she was attacked and raped.

At the time police spoke to more than 400 men and visited hundreds of homes as they tried to find the man responsible for the attack.

The case, that featured on Crimewatch last year, was reopened as part of an on-going investigation into "cold-case" rapes being carried out by the Major Crime Department and Hampshire's Police's recently-formed performance and review team.

Under the umbrella of Operation Alveston, the inquiry has been part-funded by the Home Office to enable officers to take advantage of some of the most technologically- advanced forensic methods.

The suspect was taken into custody where he was being questioned by officers today.

12:52pm Wednesday 26th March 2008

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