By Ted JeoryA FATHER-of-two was being questioned last night by detectives over 29 sexual offences on women.The 37-year-old married man was arrested yesterday in connection with a number of sex attacks on women in Colchester, Chelmsford and Brentwood.

By Ted Jeory

A FATHER-of-two was being questioned last night by detectives over 29 sexual offences on women.

The 37-year-old married man was arrested yesterday in connection with a number of sex attacks on women in Colchester, Chelmsford and Brentwood.

Officers working on Operation Telford - the investigation launched into a number of sex assaults in Colchester and Chelmsford - raided the man's home in Ongar yesterday morning.

He went voluntarily yesterday afternoon with his solicitor to Colchester police station, where detectives began questioning last night over the 29 sexual offences.

They include allegations of attempted rape, indecent assault, indecent exposure and gross indecency.

Police launched Operation Telford last autumn following a number of sex attacks on footpaths in Colchester and Chelmsford.

In a breakthrough earlier this year, DNA analysis revealed the same man had carried out two sex assaults in the towns.

In the first assault in Chelmsford, a 30-year-old woman was attacked as she walked home from the gym on the footpath linking Waterhouse Lane and Seymour Street at 5.30pm on September 29.

On October 10 in the Lexden area of Colchester, a 19-year-old woman was subjected to an attempted rape at knifepoint just after midnight on a footpath known as Bluebottle Grove.

On December 10, a 17-year-old girl was assaulted at knifepoint by a man on a footpath off Park Road at 10.40am, again in the Lexden area of Colchester.

Essex Police were flooded with calls from the public after the attacks were featured on the BBC's Crimewatch programme last month and 18 new leads were uncovered.

Operation Telford has been running from its base in Stanway with a team of more than 20 officers, under Detective Superintindent Gareth Wilson, since October.

ted.jeory@eadt.co.uk