DNA sweep of French school after rape

Police have completed an unprecedented collection of DNA samples from hundreds of male students and staff at a French school where a girl was raped last year.

The one student who had refused to take part 'for philosophical reasons', relented on Thursday after being warned by the prosecutor leading the investigation that he would be putting himself in a difficult position if he maintained his stance.

'As he was the only one to refuse, we made him understand that he could be seen by his fellow students as having something to hide,' La Rochelle prosecutor Isabelle Pagenelle said.

Samples were taken from a total of 527 students and staff who were on site when the girl was raped in a school toilet where the lights had been turned off.

As she was unable to see her attacker, investigators have had little to go on other than a male DNA trace recovered from her clothing.

Nine people who have left the school since the incident on September 30 still have to be tracked down and tested, Pagenelle said.

The samples will now be sent to a laboratory for testing and, unless one of them proves to be a match, they will all be destroyed after analyses are completed.

School director Isabelle Deveaux congratulated the students on their cooperation with police.

'We are lucky to have very mature pupils,' she said.

'Many parents have expressed their support for what we are doing.'

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DNA sweep of French school after rape