POLICE questioning a Kent man in connection with the serial rapist inquiry have been given until late tonight to charge or release him.

Last night magistrates granted detectives from Operation Orb a further 26 hours to question the 48-year-old man who was arrested on Monday.

It is the second time officers have been granted an extension to the custody limit and they have now been given the maximum 96 hours.

The man was arrested in connection with nine rapes and one attempted rape in the last 12 months. Kent police spokesman Jane Walker said: "Yesterday evening police received a custody extension from magistrates which enables the man to be held in custody until late today."

The rapist first struck on the Stanhope Estate at Ashford on November 15 last year. There have since been attacks in Berkshire, Surrey, London and Hertfordshire.