Night Stalker's 17 year reign of terror

Sky News


3:59pm UK, Thursday March 24, 2011

Martin Brunt, crime correspondent
A 53-year-old former minicab driver has been convicted of being the "Night Stalker" - one of the most prolific and depraved sex attackers in British history.

Police apologised for missing chances to stop rapist Delroy Grant sooner as he was found guilty of preying on the elderly in a reign of terror lasting 17 years.

He was behind some of the most "awful and disturbing crimes" ever investigated at Scotland Yard, senior detectives said.

A jury at Woolwich Crown Court convicted him of attacking at least 18 victims - men and women - but it is feared the total may be more than 500.

Grant's oldest victim was widow Lilian Wilde, who was 89 when he broke into her home and raped her twice. She has since died.

POLICE APOLOGY OVER THE NIGHT STALKER INVESTIGATION

Mrs Wilde was one of 203 victims police know about, but they believe there could be many more who have never come forward.

"It ruined her life. She became very wary, very frightened," said Mrs Wilde's friend Diana Campbell, who cared for her after the attack.

"There she was living in her own home and suddenly her world fell apart.

"She always used to say she hoped he would be caught before she died, because she had terrible nightmares.

cctv of grant and audio of victim's emergency call

"She dreaded the night, she dreaded going to bed."

Grant's attacks began in 1992 and continued up to the night of his arrest in November 2009.

He preyed on victims in southeast London, breaking into homes, raping and sexually assaulting some of the occupants.

He was usually masked and was careful to leave few clues to his identity. Some victims said he was polite and even apologetic after his attacks.

Police identified Grant as a suspect in 1999, but he was not arrested then because a junior detective confused him with a younger man of the same name.

Grant was wrongly eliminated from the investigation and went on to target another 146 victims, three of whom he raped.

Two years later, police were given his name as a potential suspect, but a cursory check of records showed he had already been eliminated.

Officers went to his home, but he was not in and they never went back to question him.

Two junior detectives have been given minor punishments after an investigation into the blunders by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

Commander Simon Foy, the head of homicide and serious crime at Scotland Yard, said: "These were terrible crimes. Grant is a perverted, callous, violent predator.

"We are deeply sorry for the harm suffered by his victims and our failure to bring him to justice earlier."

After his arrest, Grant told police that his son Delroy Junior could be the Night Stalker.

Then he tried to fit up his ex-wife Janet Watson, claiming she had collected and stored his semen and saliva and left it at the crime scenes after a male accomplice had committed the sex attacks.

Jonathan Ladlaw QC said that Grant's defence "simply defies belief".

Grant, a father of 10 and a full-time carer for his estranged wife Jennifer, had told the court: "For what reason would I want to rape old women?"

It was a question even the prosecutor could not answer.

Grant is due to be sentenced on Friday. Judge Peter Rook told him: "You should appreciate the sentence you receive will be what is called an indeterminate sentence."

The term will be "very long indeed", he added.

Some serious mistakes made my the police in this case, granted the guy was extremely devious but he should have been stopped long ago. Very harrowing to read some of the victim's accounts.

We must now rely on the judiciary to ensure he never steps foot into society again..Sadly more will be spent on keeping him safe and sound in his cell than will ever be spent on caring for his victims.

Me... I'd hang him along with all sex offenders.

malena stool wrote:We must now rely on the judiciary to ensure he never steps foot into society again..Sadly more will be spent on keeping him safe and sound in his cell than will ever be spent on caring for his victims.

Me... I'd hang him along with all sex offenders.

Sure will be, his human rights will come first.

HIS WIFE HAD MS,HE WAS ALSO VERY RELIGIOUS

Hopefully no half baked do-gooding human rights nutter will leap to his defence and push for parole as happened with Myra Hindley. Although she never achieved freedom it was an affront to the victims and their loved ones that the appeal ever made it to the House of Lords.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/650114.stm