Craft knife links man to attack

LONDON, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- British authorities say a sex offender was linked to a 12-year-old case when his DNA was lifted from a craft knife he had returned to his son's school.

Steven Sellars' DNA was matched to that found at the scene of an attempted rape against a 19-year-old York University student in 1996, the Daily Mail reported Wednesday.

The link to Sellars was made last November after a school receptionist saw him with his son's craft knife, which Sellars said he was returning to a classroom. The receptionist, alarmed by the knife, called police, who took a routine DNA sample from Sellars, the Mail reported.

Police then learned Sellars had a previous rape conviction and had been arrested for allegedly assaulting two 11-year-old girls in attacks dating to 1985, said police.

Sellars pleaded guilty to the 1996 attempted rape and was sentenced to life in prison, though he will be eligible for parole in four years, police said.