Police are questioning a man over a string of knife attacks and a rape in Brighton and Hove.

Sussex detectives seized the 48-year-old at a shop in Wood Green, London, just after 8pm yesterday.

The man offered no resistance and was put into a police car and driven straight to Brighton.

The suspect had previously lived in Brighton and had been staying in London since Christmas.

He was today being held at Brighton's John Street police station and was due to be questioned by detectives involved in Operation Tank.

Detective Superintendent Kevin Moore, leading the hunt, said: "We had full co-operation from the Metropolitan Police and we shall be interviewing the man today."

Brighton detectives recovered DNA samples from the 26-year-old rape victim and sent them to the national DNA database to check for matches with known offenders.

The woman, from Australia, was raped at knifepoint in Queensbury Mews, Brighton, on December 20.

There have been ten other attacks in the city, all but one on women.

The first was in Montpelier Terrace on October 30, on a 16-year-old girl.

Since then, attacks have taken place in Atlingworth Street, Brighton, Brunswick Street West, Hove, Clarence Square, Brighton, Marlborough Street, Brighton, Brighton Marina, Black Lion Street, Brighton, Queensbury Mews, Brighton, Queens Road, Brighton, and in New Church Road, Hove.

The knifeman usually hides in doors or alleyways and preys on women walking alone after dusk. Some victims have been robbed and one man was slashed and stabbed.

The attacker produces a craft knife and threatens to kill his victims. A squad of 26 officers are hunting the man, variously described as Mediterranean, Indian, Asian or of mixed race.