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She also linked Reid to an intelligence report in 2002, when he was spoken to about following a woman, and an acquittal in 1995 for sexual assault. The officer warned Sapphire Unit detectives that Reid could be their man but nothing was done. He went on to attack at least 20 more women before being caught.

Two reviews were carried out into the case in 2004 and 2006 by senior officers at Scotland Yard and the Wandsworth Sapphire Unit.

In January 2008 the Homicide and Serious Crime Command took over the case, saw that Reid was a suspect and collected a DNA sample from him. He was charged three days later.

Judge Shani Barnes said she wanted psychiatric reports before she sentenced Reid and that she wanted to comment on the “unfortunate period of time these matters were allowed to continue through the years”.

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This case dwarfs anything I have ever experienced in terms of incompetence

Andy Hayman

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She praised Detective Inspector Justin Davies, who, “after years of inadequate work” by other officers, “finally brought this matter to the courts and allowed women to walk safely on the streets”.

Control of the specialist sex crime Sapphire units, set up in 2001 to redefine the way serious sexual assaults were investigated, is being taken from borough level and put under the umbrella of the Homicide and Serious Crime Command at Scotland Yard. Critics say this does nothing to address the main problem. Andy Hayman, former assistant commissioner in charge of counter-terrorism at Scotland Yard, said: “How can a new structure of reporting address the issue of individual failings by officers?”

The fallout from the case could see several officers, some promoted since working at Wandsworth, being sacked or demoted. Sir Paul Stephenson, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, said that he was “deeply disturbed” by parts of the Reid case.

Commander Mark Simmons said: “It is clear from the evidence heard in court that the standard of investigation was not what we as an organisation or the victims should have expected. Reid should have been arrested sooner and I, on behalf of the MPS and as head of Sapphire, am sorry those women who were subsequently attacked by him have been caused unnecessary suffering.”

Scotland Yard has referred both the Reid and Worboy cases to the Independent Police Complaints Commission. Deborah Glass, the IPCC commissioner for London, said there was a “real cause for concern” that it took so long to arrest Reid, and the public would want to know if the police took the victims seriously enough.

Chris Huhne, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, said: “This is one of the worst cases on record where the police have failed to protect vulnerable women despite repeated and bestial attacks.”

At Reid’s trial at Kingston Crown Court, Patricia Lees, for the prosecution, admitted that the “investigative techniques employed by the police officers at the time were inadequate and those failings in following up evidential leads allowed Kirk Reid to remain at large and to continue to prey on women.”

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