Police were yesterday night preparing to tear apart the home of a convicted rapist where the bodies of 10 women have so far been found.

Meanwhile Anthony Sowell appeared in court in Cleveland, Ohio under tight security, wrists and ankles were manacled, before being remanded in custody.

Prosecutor Brian Murphy called Mr Sowell "an incredibly dangerous threat to the public".

Police discovered the first six bodies last week after a woman reported being raped at Mr Sowell's home. Investigators said they found one body in a shallow grave in the back garden. The rest were inside the house - one in the basement, two in the third-floor living room and two in an upstairs crawl space.

They found four more bodies yesterday in the garden, as well as a skull wrapped in paper inside a bucket in his basement.

After Mr Sowell's court appearance, Deputy Police Chief Ed Tomba said investigators have finished digging through the backyard and will begin tearing apart walls inside the house in search of more evidence or bodies.

"We're going to go bit by bit, piece by piece," he said.

The coroner has not yet identified any of the bodies but is trying to do so through DNA and dental records. The six found last week were black, and five of them were strangled.

Mr Sowell served 15 years in prison for a 1989 rape. Police Chief Michael Grath said: "It appears that this man had an insatiable appetite that he had to fill."

As a registered sex offender, Mr Sowell was required to check in regularly at the sheriff's office. Officers did not have the right to enter his house, but they would stop by to make sure he was there. Their most recent visit was on September 22, just hours before the woman reported being raped.

For the past few years, Mr Sowell's neighbours thought the foul smell enveloping their street corner had been coming from a nearby sausage factory.