The Metropolitan Police were holding a 52-year-old man, reportedly a father of two, in custody. He was picked up by officers lying in wait for him in the early hours of yesterday when he returned in his car to the home he shares with his disabled wife.

The arrest followed a series of renewed attacks by a suspect believed to have committed more than 100 offences involving breaking into the homes of elderly women and men – some in their 90s – in south London, with the crimes dating back to the 1990s.

Police said the offender has raped four people and sexually assaulted 24 others.

In many cases, he used the distinctive technique of disabling fuse boxes to disconnect phone lines before breaking into a property.

Detectives have obtained more than 2000 DNA samples from suspects as part of the 12-year Operation Minstead inquiry at a cost of £102,700. It is believed further attacks have taken place over the past four months which detectives had not publicly linked to the investigation for fear that it would drive the offender back under ground.

One source said: “The police have kept the latest developments in this case extremely tight.

“There was concern the suspect would go to ground as a result of any publicity around the case.”

In many of the cases light bulbs were removed from the homes of vulnerable victims and curtains drawn.

Some of the householders, ranging in age from 68 to 93, were raped and sexually assaulted.

The offender was usually dressed in black, with his face obscured by a balaclava. He often woke people by shining a torch in their faces.

Police said he sometimes spent up to four hours with his victims.

The total number of raids linked to the man during his 17-year reign of terror is understood to be at least 108. The most recent linked burglaries took place in June, when one of nine break-ins was linked to the suspect by DNA.

The Night Stalker first struck in 1992, raping an 84-year-old woman after a break-in at the flat where she lived alone in the Shirley area of Croydon.

Profilers had suggested the culprit was an employed man aged between 35 and 45, who masked his crimes behind the veneer of a respectable life. They labelled him a gerontophile, someone with a sexual fixation with the elderly.

Although the vast majority of victims have been women, police said they also included 10 elderly men, one of whom suffered a sexual attack.

In 2004, specialist ancestral DNA analysis revealed the attacker’s parents originally came from the Windward Islands in the Caribbean.

In 2006, detectives flew to Trinidad to make an appeal for information.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said last night: “We can confirm a 52-year-old man was arrested in the early hours of this morning in a pre-planned operation. He is currently in custody at a London police station.”