Detectives today warned criminals there is no time limit on justice after a rapist was trapped by new forensic technology – two decades after he attacked a student nurse in Bradford as a teenager.

Lee Martin, now a 40-year-old father-of-three, was told he faces a long time behind bars after he was unanimously convicted by a jury of rape yesterday.

Martin, who was 18 at the time of the offence, attacked the 20-year-old woman in the grounds of her nurses’ accommodation opposite St Luke’s Hospital in May, 1988.

The jury of seven women and five men at Leeds Crown Court convicted Martin, who pleaded not guilty to rape, after two and a half hours deliberation following a four-day trial.

He screwed up his face, looked away and shouted “Jesus” as the guilty verdict was announced. Relatives gasped in dismay in the public gallery.

Judge Jennifer Kershaw QC adjourned sentencing so probation, and possibly psychiatrists, could assess Martin’s risk to the public. Remanding him in custody she warned him: “There will be a significant custodial sentence – the only issue is how long.”

After the case, Detective Chief Inspector Paul Fountain, of West Yorkshire Police’s Major Investigation Review Team, said: “Lee Martin’s conviction shows that there is no hiding place for criminals. Just because you are not arrested at the time, doesn’t mean you have escaped.”

Det Chief Insp Fountain said Martin, of Averingcliffe Road, Eccleshill, Bradford, had evaded justice for 22 years but he added: “The court has given justice to the victim of this horrendous attack. She has had to live with this for a very long time.”

He said “cold cases” were constantly reviewed and new opportunities sought to use the incredible advances in scientific analysis to identify the person responsible.

Following the verdict, prosecutor Jamie Hill QC told the judge there was an outstanding indictment against the defendant, alleging four indecent assaults on a girl aged 12 or 13 in 1998.

He said the police and Crown Prosecution Service had discussed the situation and, in light of the verdict, had decided to ask for the allegations to be left on file. The alleged victim, now in her 20s, had agreed.

The jury had been told Martin attacked the student nurse as she walked home from a night out in the early hours of May 14, 1988. He dragged her into bushes in the grounds of the nurses’ hostel in Little Horton Lane and pushed her to the ground. He held a metal object to her throat, told her he had a knife and threatened to kill her before calmly raping her and running off.

Forensic scientists created a DNA profile from a semen sample but no match was found at the time. Last year detectives carried out a cold case review of the case. Up-to-date forensic technology obtained a new DNA profile which matched that of Martin, whose DNA had been recorded after he was arrested for being drunk and disorderly.

The court was told there was a billion-to-one chance the semen could belong to any other unrelated person.

Martin admitted to the jury he had been a promiscuous teenager, but maintained he had never forced a woman to have sex. He said he did not recall the victim and denied raping her, but said he could not remember where he had been on the night of the rape.

The court heard he had convictions for threatening behaviour, criminal damage and assault in the 1980s and a caution for affray in 2006.