The Spanish justice department is finally reopening the case of Dutch national Romano van der Dussen who has spent 12 years in jail for rape and robbery, broadcaster Nos says on Thursday.

Van der Dussen was jailed for 15 years for three violent assaults in the resort of Fuengirola but has always denied any involvement in the crimes.

Earlier this year, British police confirmed the dna of the rapist matches that of British man Mark Dixie who has since been jailed for murder. Dixie has also confessed to the crimes.

Van der Dussen was not brought back to the Netherlands to serve his sentence because ‘he lived in Spain at the time of his arrest’, RTL quoted the Dutch foreign affairs ministry as saying last year.

He told El Pais that his life in the Spanish jail was hell. ‘My life has been ruined,’ he told the paper. Van Dussen was jailed on the basis of evidence from two of the victims who said he was their attacker, even though fingerprint and dna evidence did not match.