KEY POINTS:
Police hunting a serial rapist who has raped three women in Hamilton say their list of "people of interest" has grown to more than 1000.
Police warned woman not to go out at night alone after the man picked up women and raped them on April 1, May 20 and July 1.
The rapist had also been linked with a burglary on the Coromandel Peninsula a year ago but Detective Senior Sergeant Chris Page refused to say what the link was today.
"I am not telling the media what the link is," he said. "I have got an investigation to do and I am not going to prejudice it."
He said the list of people police were looking at had grown to more than 1000.
"Not all of those have been nominated by the public. About 200 have been nominated by the public and the rest are police nominated."
He would not say how long police expected to take to work through the 1000 names and reduce the list to a more manageable size.
Police said earlier there was potential for the rapist to strike again at the weekend, with breaks of six to seven weeks between each rape.
The victims were all walking by themselves in the city centre and were given a lift by a man in a silver car.
The rapist was a Caucasian aged 18 to 40.
The Coromandel burglary was at a holiday home on the Coast Road, north of Thames, in August last year.
Police said the amount of property taken suggested other people were either involved or aware of the burglary and that someone may be setting up a home or supporting someone else, rather than making a financial gain, he said.
The stolen items included kitchen utensils, appliances, linen, camp stretchers, two fishing rods, and children's books and toys.
- NZPA
