For almost 25 years Joshua The High Priest evaded capture for two brutal assaults on teenagers in Sheffield, leaving him free to indecently assault a 10-year-old girl.

But the 51-year-old joiner, who changed his name from Robert Wilson by deed poll, was brought to justice yesterday after South Yorkshire Police and forensic scientists re-examined the cases.

He pleaded guilty to rape and serious sexual assault at a hearing last month after swabs taken from the crime scenes matched his profile on the national DNA database.

Sheffield Crown Court heard how Priest violently raped an 18-year-old bar worker in October 1984 after she got into his car thinking it was a taxi.

Priest drove her to a quiet area in the Broomhall area of the city before hitting her, forcing her on to the back seat and raping her.

Judge Graham Robinson heard she was so traumatised by the attack she attempted suicide two days later, cutting her wrists and lying down in a road hoping to be run over.

In June 1985 Priest broke into a house in Broomhall looking for cash and attacked a 17-year-old schoolgirl who had been staying there.

He threatened her with a "rusty sword" he found in the house before leading her to the kitchen, where he subjected her to a serious sexual assault whil e holding a bread knife to her face.

The judge said his threats to the girl must have "chilled her to the core".

Police revealed yesterday that Priest had been one of several suspects arrested shortly after the incident but he denied any involvement and was not prosecuted.

The court heard he raped and robbed a prostitute at knifepoint in Broomhall less than a month later, for which he was given a seven-year jail term in February 1986.

Priest, of Sunny Bank, Broomhall, would almost certainly been ordered to serve life in prison had he had been sentenced for all three sex attacks rather than only one, the judge told him yesterday.

Instead, while at liberty during the early 1990s, he went on to sexually abuse a 10-year-old girl. He was jailed for three years in September 1993.

Detective Sergeant Ian Harding, of South Yorkshire Police's cold case review team, said Priest was on the national DNA database because he had dozens of convictions for offences involving robbery, burglary and drugs.

And he believes he could be responsible for other serious sex offences.

"The offence of rape is horrific for any woman," the detective said, "but, given the aggravating features here, surely this has got to be every woman's worst nightmare."

He added: "Unfortunately these two ladies have had to spend their lives learning to deal with what has happened to them.

"Thankfully they've now got this to help them deal with it.

"They have got the sentence, they have got the admission of guilt and their accounts are now believed."

The court heard how the 1984 investigation ran into difficulties when the victim eventually stopped co-operating because, she said, the police at the time were not dealing with her appropriately. She also alleged an officer at the time made a comment about her not wearing a bra.

The judge said: "I think it's accepted that at that time rape victims weren't treated with the same sensitivity that they are now."

Although Priest was arrested and released in 1985, Mr Harding said the detectives who first investigated the case should be praised for getting as far as they did.

"All credit to the officers at the time," he said. "They didn't have the luxury of DNA evidence and forensic technology but they still knew who they were talking about.

"I would say it's a credit to them they actually arrested him."