ALL she wanted was the chance to look him in the eye. It was 14 years ago when predator Derek Young raped her at knifepoint, stealing her childhood innocence.

Sat in a courtroom his victim - now a woman settled with her own family - yesterday finally laid eyes on the evil man who preyed on her and two other victims walking alone and attacked them for his own gratification.

We always believed we would catch him - click here

Today, Young, of Middle Street, Southsea, is starting a 15-year jail term after a judge described the attacks as "terrifying ordeals".

He had pleaded guilty in April to the 1994 rape, as well as to the attempted rape of a 19-year-old girl in Southsea in 1990 and a further indecent assault in Portsmouth in 1993.

The woman, who lives in Southampton, was just 14 years old when Young subjected her to the brutal ordeal as she walked across Southampton Sports Centre in Bassett to call for her friend.

He grabbed her and pulled her to the ground. Brandishing a knife, he ordered her to sit down, threatening to kill her if she didn't obey.

Minutes later he got up and told her she could get dressed before he ran off, leaving his baseball cap at the scene.

A major inquiry was launched which saw more than 400 people spoken to in the hunt for the attacker, who had struck on a dark November evening - the night of the first National Lottery draw.

His DNA was retrieved from the girl's clothes and placed on a national database, but to no avail.

Artist's sketch proved invaluable - click here

Three years later, scientists working on samples from the Southsea attack found they had a match and both cases were linked.

The investigation into both attacks was relaunched in 2000 under the name Operation Dakota, after Hampshire detectives revisited more than 850 unsolved cases of rape and serious sex attacks in an enquiry called Operation Alveston.

Four years later, with technological advances, the profiles from both attacks were improved and loaded on to a national database.

But it wasn't until December last year that detectives finally got their breakthrough.

Following a front page appeal in the Daily Echo and a nationwide plea to find the rapist, police received more than 80 calls and one new lead - a nickname that was to take them to Young.

But the 52-year-old, known to his friends and neighbours as "Digger", had hidden himself well.

When police finally swooped in March he was found to be living another life with a wife and child who knew nothing about his sordid past.

Speaking to the Daily Echo about her 14-year wait for justice, the Southampton victim said: "It was nerve-racking going to court to see him face-to-face. When he walked through the door I didn't feel anything, really. He was someone who looked really pitiful and sorry for himself.

"My immediate thought was that I wouldn't have recognised him if I had walked past him in the street. He looked like a pathetic old man.

"I did make eye contact with him and thankfully he was the first to look away. He was nervous and fidgety."

The woman, who now has a young son, said: "When I first found out that they had caught him I was shocked, I didn't expect it. It's good news but I can't say it's a relief because him being caught doesn't make me feel any different.

"Seeing him go to prison, I don't know if closure is the right word for me, it's just the end. I got over this a long time ago but I couldn't wish for anything more than him being caught after all this time. He has nothing now."