Police hunting a serial rapist in southeast England have said forensic tests confirmed a 14-year-old girl had become his 10th victim.
The teenager was attacked on a footpath in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, north of London, as she walked home last Friday.
"On the evidence we have currently, I am convinced that it is the same offender," said Kent Assistant Chief Constable David Kelly, who is leading the investigation.
More than 1,000 people contacted police after public appeals in the hunt for the attacker. Prior to Friday's attack he is suspected of having carried out a string of attacks in Surrey, Kent, Berkshire and London in the past 11 months, Kelly told a news conference.
More than 100 officers are involved in the search for the man, dubbed the "trophy rapist" because he took items of clothing and mobile phones from his victims, aged between 10 and 52 years.
Detective Chief Inspector Tim Stevens, from Hertfordshire Police, said on Wednesday the latest attack was "horrific".
The attacker grabbed her after running up behind her on a secluded path before dragging her into dense brambles, which may have scratched the attacker.
"The inquiry team has spoken to the young lady and she is having difficulty as you would expect in coping with what has happened to her," Stevens told the news conference.
"This is a young 14-year-old girl and I think that must be absolutely horrible for her."
Police believe the attacker is a white man, with tanned, leathery skin, aged between 30 and 50.
The sex assaults began in Kent in November last year, when a 10-year-old girl was abducted and raped in woodland undergrowth.