A Moroccan jailed for the brutal rape of a British model has lost his bid for freedom after claiming police breached his human rights by taking his DNA from a discarded cigarette.
Mohamed Fadel el Anssari, 32, was caged for 23 years for the savage attack on attractive Cheryl Maddison shortly after she arrived in Majorca to start a summer job.
He forced his way into her rented flat and repeatedly raped her and stabbed her in the neck, throat and back with a seven-inch knife before plunging it into her chest.
Cheryl, who was 21 at the time, was left for dead but managed to drag herself to a nearby kebab shop where she collapsed in a pool of blood.
Doctors saved her life in a series of operations and said it was miraculous she survived the horrific attack in May 2008.
Fadel was snared three years later by undercover police who collected his DNA from his cigarette while following him as their prime suspect and the sample matched DNA taken from the scene of the crime.
He admitted the rape and attempted murder during a police interview after being confronted by the DNA evidence and confessed for a second time in front of an investigating magistrate.
Last February he was jailed for 23 years for rape and attempted murder at the Provincial Court in the Majorcan capital Palma.
But he then lodged an appeal, calling for the conviction to be overturned on human rights grounds.
He claimed that by collecting his DNA from the discarded cigarette without his permission, or that of a judge, police had violated his right to privacy with.
The Supreme Court in Palma has now thrown out his appeal and said his human rights were not breached.
in a 15-page ruling Antonio del Moral Garcia said: “There were very good reasons to investigate the accused and no fundamental rights were breached by collecting this cigarette butt without judicial authorisation.”
Cheryl, from Houghton, Tyne and Wear, who has waived her right to anonymity, said: “It feels like he’s tormenting me from his prison cell, bringing it all back up just when I’m getting my life back.
“He committed a terrible crime, he was found guilty, why cant he just accept his punishment like a man instead of trying to get out of it on human rights grounds?
“Luckily the judge has some common sense and can see the police did their job properly and thoroughly.
“I’ve never been after revenge. All I have ever wanted is justice and to make sure he stays in prison for a very long time. Hopefully this will now be the end of it.”
