A NURSE who went missing after being infected with malaria is at the centre of a sex attack investigation, it has been revealed.

Matthew Lloyd, who had been injected with the potentially fatal disease as part of a clinical trial, had not been seen for a fortnight before he contacted police in Holland on Monday night.

The 35-year-old, who works at Southampton General Hospital, was yesterday being assessed in a Dutch hospital while police make plans with his family to bring him back to Britain.

It has emerged that before he went missing Mr Lloyd was questioned by detectives investigating a double sexual assault in Southampton.

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He was arrested after police received a call from a Daily Echo reader after a front page appeal for help solving a double sex attack.

Mr Lloyd is currently on police bail until December while detectives at Shirley CID continue their inquiries into the incident in which a woman was attacked twice as she walked home in the early hours of August 21.

She had just finished work at a city centre restaurant when she was assaulted, first in Howard Road at about 12.40am, and again on Shirley High Street at around 1am.

Mr Lloyd’s disappearance sparked a countrywide hunt, but no warrant was issued for his arrest and it is understood he has not breached any terms of his bail.

He was injected with malaria on October 1 as part of a trial in Oxford, but fears were raised for his wellbeing when he failed to return for follow-up treatment a week later.

His parents Doreen and Michael Holland last week travelled to Southampton with his sister Claire Holland from their home in Somerset to issue a tearful appeal for their “responsible, ambitious and focused” son to get in touch.

Before making contact with Dutch police, the last known sighting of him had been on October 5, when he was spotted on CCTV cameras at Kings Cross station in London. Two days later, on the day of his missed appointment, he called in sick to colleagues.

Appealing for help from the public to trace Mr Lloyd, police said they were fearful that he could die without proper treatment, as the other six people taking part in the trial all contracted malaria.

It is not yet known if Mr Lloyd has now developed the disease. Police said last night that they were waiting for updates from the Dutch hospital where he was being assessed.