A 53-year-old man from Schiedam has been jailed for six years for raping two girls aged 13 and 15 in 2010, after a police cold case team used 3D imaging to try to identify him.

Marcel B was arrested at the beginning of 2023 two years after police issued a 3D image of the suspect, who attacked the girls in the storage area of flats in Schiedam and Vlaardingen.

The image, which was life sized and moved, led to 300 tips from members of the public, including one concrete suggestion about the suspect. Police also issued a strip cartoon about the case.

In November 2022, a number of men from the area were asked to agree to a voluntary DNA test which resulted in a match between one man and DNA evidence from the rapes, police said.

The sentence is lower than the eight years demanded by the public prosecution department because B was found not guilty of attempting to rape another girl, also aged 13.