A FIRE chief was linked to two sex attacks by sophisticated DNA evidence which proved his guilt, a jury heard at Manchester Crown Court.

The odds that 44 year old George Heyes was not the hooded assailant, were one in one billion, prosecutor Susan Klonin told a jury.

The DNA match was obtained four years after the attacks on two teenage girls walking alone at night, one in Heywood and the other in the Wythenshawe area of Manchester.

Bolton born Heyes, of Bamburgh Close, Radcliffe, has pleaded guilty to the two offences, one of raping a girl of 18 and indecently assaulting another teenage girl -- but the prosecution claim they were just part of a series of sex crimes he carried out over 18 months in 1996 and 1997.

Heyes, an acting Assistant Divisional Officer in the Fire Service, denies a second rape and three offences of molesting victims, and is being tried by a jury. He was working at the Swinton headquarters of the Greater Manchester Fire Brigade at the time of the attacks.

His mother and sister sat at the back of the court as Miss Klonin said he could be linked to all the attacks because of the similarity of features involved in them all.

"The Crown alleges that a careful and detailed analysis and comparison of each attack with other attacks, leads to the conclusion that they were all the work of one man," she told the jury.

Four were within 1500 metres of each other in Heywood, lone girls would be approached from behind at night while near recreational ground, a church yard or school grounds.

Money would be demanded, even though no victim was ever robbed. The assailant would ask the victim's name, their age, and if they had a boyfriend, and he would disguise himself with either a bandanna, a scarf or a balaclava.

When arrested, divorced Heyes denied carrying out any of the attacks.

None of the victims have been giving evidence from the witness box, and their statements have been read to the jury.

The trial continues.