Authorities' failure allowed Italian Couchsurfing rapist to escape inquiry for months
Lack of co-ordination between countries saw complaint against Italian fall through cracks
Women travelling in Italy were left at the mercy of a suspected serial rapist in the city of Padua for more than a year after authorities in Italy and the UK failed to cooperate on a rape complaint by a student that was filed in England in 2013.
But an investigation by the Guardian, in conjunction with journalists at the Investigative Reporting Project Italy (IRPI), into the handling of the case found the complaint fell through bureaucratic cracks and was not investigated for months, despite the woman's multiple attempts to pursue justice.
Maglio was later convicted of drugging and raping a 16-year-old from Australia who had also stayed with him. According to witness statements more than 15 other women, including two from Hong Kong, believe they were drugged and abused in the period between the first rape complaint and his arrest a year later.
The American woman, Anna, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, was still recovering from her ordeal when she went to a police station in Staffordshire, central England, in April 2013 and reported that she had been drugged and raped days earlier.