A NATIONAL TV show has featured an incident that sparked a nationwide manhunt following a rape on a Dorset beach. 

Crimewatch Live has reported on the investigation into a rape on Bournemouth beach in July 2021.

Gabriel Marinoacia, 20, was found guilty of three charges of sexual assault and another charge of raping a 15-year-old girl.

(Image: Police) The court heard the girl said Marinoacia pulled her arm deeper into the water, where she could not reach the bottom, before touching her ‘everywhere’.

The girl said he groped her and raped her for about a minute before someone approached and she was able to get away.

In April 2024, Marinoacia was sentenced to six and a half years in a young offenders’ institute and will serve two thirds of the sentence in custody, before being released on licence.

He was also placed on the sexual offenders register for life and was given a sexual harm prevention order for 20 years.

In the episode of Crimewatch Live which aired on October 11, detective inspector Mark Jenkins took viewers through a reconstruction of the incident.

It is also discovered Marinoacia was not identified as a suspect until a year after the rape.

Dorset Police chose to use familial DNA, an advanced forensic DNA technique, to find the suspect.

DI Jenkins said: “Familial DNA is a process of examining the national DNA database for people who share common characteristics of their DNA with a suspect’s profile.

"We’re looking for people we know haven't committed the offence but may be related to people who have committed the offence.

"Once the application has been granted, then the forensic service provider conducts a physical search of the database.

“At the top of the list was one individual who had a very close DNA resemblance to the suspect's sample

“We were able to identify the suspect who was a member of their family.”

DI Jenkins also spoke on the importance of the case for the victim.

He added: “The victim is never very far from our thoughts and this whole investigation was about obtaining justice for her and bringing somebody who  committed a horrible act to justice to prevent them doing it to somebody else.”

Viewers will also be able to watch the show on BBC iPlayer.