A TRIPLE rapist is set to be interviewed by police in jail after two more potential victims came forward.

Detectives have revealed that the women have claimed Great Harwood rapist Shaun Greenwood, who was jailed for life in the summer, had forced himself on them in "date rapes" before 2002. The 42-year-old father, of Lisbon Drive, Burnley, maintained the persona of a respectable businessman, buying property abroad.

But he raped a teenager on her birthday after forcing his way into her Great Harwood home in 2002, attacked a young woman in Every Street, Nelson, on New Year's Day 2005, and another woman at Widow Hill Road Industrial Estate, Burnley, a month later.

When Greenwood was imprisoned for a minimum of seven and a half years at Preston Crown Court, Det Insp Neil Hunter, who led the investigation, branded him Lancashire's most dangerous sex attacker.

And he said that he feared he had been date-raping women since 1998, with attacks going unreported.

Detectives had said they had no plans to reinterview Greenwood in prison, because his psychological state meant nothing claimed by him could be taken as credible.

But this week, they said they could speak to him any time in the next six months, because the new information could help probation officers make future decisions about managing his behaviour and eligibility for parole.

Det Insp Hunter said the women had come forward and reported that Greenwood had forced himself on them when they had tried to cool relations after dates, but that they had not wanted to take the matters further.

He said: "They don't want to revisit that time in their lives and they are happy that he is languishing in jail for life, but this demonstrates to me that he was already very much a person obsessed with control - he wanted to have complete control over any relationship.

"He didn't have to demonstrate enormous physical violence because he had that through his presence and threat of aggression, but my fear is that if these women had failed to comply he would have been so adamant about control that he could quite easily have taken somebody's life.

"Everyone who dealt with him said they had not met a more dangerous and wicked individual - he is really frightening."

Any meeting with Greenwood is unlikely to take place until he is transferred to a longer-term prison place. He is believed to be in jail in Liverpool at the moment.

Detectives said they would work with the probation officers monitoring his progress and ensure that the meeting took place when Greenwood was at his most receptive.