Police are hunting an on-the-run violent convict in connection with a brutal sexual assault on a 23-year-old woman in Perth.
Officers believe Lee Cyrus, who disappeared from an open prison in England, has travelled to Tayside.
Officers said they were keen to apprehend Cyrus and establish what his movements have been since he absconded while on day release from North Sea Camp, Boston, in Lincolnshire, on October 9.
Cyrus (47), who had previously lived in the Preston and Blackburn areas of Lancashire, is serving a life sentence for robbery but has a history of violent and sexual crimes.
His previous convictions include having sex with a 13-year-old girl, slashing a woman’s throat with a screwdriver and robbing a 90-year-old widow.
Police have refused to reveal where in Tayside Cyrus, who is also known as Ivan Leach, could be but have not ruled out a potential link to the attack in the Bridgend area of Perth.
Police refused to reveal whether Cyrus has links in the area, stating only that they are acting on ”intelligence”.
When asked, a police spokeswoman said she did not know how Cyrus would have travelled the 340 miles from the Lancashire open prison.
She also refused to comment on whether Cyrus had been caught on CCTV or whether he had changed his appearance to evade capture.
When asked if someone local could be harbouring the fugitive, the spokeswoman again declined to comment.
However, she did reveal that Cyrus would be questioned about his movements if he was apprehended.
”Cyrus is an absconder who we believe has been, and possibly still is, in the Tayside area,” she said.
”That means that, like our colleagues in Lancashire and Lincolnshire, we have an interest in tracing him at the earliest opportunity to fully establish where he has been and what he has been doing.”
Perth City Centre councillor Peter Barrett expressed concern that Cyrus had been able to travel to the area.
”It is very worrying that there is strong intelligence to suggest that a dangerous and violent criminal who absconded from HM Prison North Sea Camp may have been in the Tayside area,” he said.
”I would urge local residents to be extra vigilant and take precautions to make their homes secure while this man remains at large. Keep outside doors locked, windows shut and be sure to use any burglar/security locks that are fitted.”
The development comes after a mattress stolen from the scene of the sexual assault was recovered from the River Tay.
Mr Barrett added: ”It is good news that this mattress has been recovered and can hopefully add to the forensic evidence required to convict the perpetrator when he is apprehended.”
It emerged that DNA could be recovered from the mattress – even though it was submerged in the river for more than five days.
The mattress was taken the morning after the assault on the victim last Monday.
An expert in forensics, who has also worked with the police in the past to solve crimes, said the fibres could still hold DNA evidence.
Anthony Busuttil, emeritus professor of forensic medicine at Edinburgh University, said five days in water was unlikely to have washed away biological evidence.
”What they’ll normally do is a chemical test to see if there is any semen or blood,” Mr Busuttil said.
”If they find that then they can look for DNA in it. I’ve seen DNA retrieved from clothes which have been put through a full wash in a washing machine.
”I have seen DNA recovered from clothing that has lain for 20 years.”