GUILTY UK - 'Night Stalker' suspect arrested

Lady Stardust

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Police arrest Night Stalker suspect

19-year hunt is 'biggest case in history of the Metropolitan Police'

By Mark Hughes, Crime Correspondent

Sunday, 15 November 2009

The man believed to be the Night Stalker, Britain's most notorious serial sex attacker, has been arrested during a raid by the Metropolitan Police.

The Night Stalker is thought to be responsible for at least 108 attacks on the elderly, including four rapes and 24 indecent assaults, during break-ins in South London over 19 years..

A 52-year-old man was arrested yesterday morning in south London – the area where most of the attacks took place.His arrest is described as "significant" and there were suggestions last night that the true number of attacks may be close to 200.

One senior detective described the case as "the biggest in the Met's history". At least one high-ranking officer is said to have personally checked the DNA database daily in the hope that someone arrested overnight on an unrelated offence provided a match. The arrest resulted from a targeted operation against the suspect.

The case of the Night Stalker has baffled detectives at Scotland Yard since 1990 despite police having a DNA sample for 12 years after compiling forensic evidence from at least 10 crime scenes. Analysis showed that both of his parents originally came from the Windward Islands in the Caribbean. Officers carried out 2,054 tests at a cost of £102,700 but have never found a match on the DNA database.

Despite the man not being on the DNA database, he may still have a criminal record. He could have committed an offence before the database was introduced in 1995.

Unusually, despite the nature of his offences and the clear danger to the public, the Met has preferred not to publicise new information or leads in recent months, because when they have done so previously, the attacks have stopped, making the man harder to catch. Instead, they increased manpower in the investigation, known as Operation Minstead and focused on the relatively small area of London where he committed his offences.

A team of 29 police officers and staff based at Lewisham police station drew up a list of 21,500 suspects and began asking men for voluntary DNA samples to eliminate them from the inquiry. Eight police officers also travelled to Caribbean islands including Trinidad, Tobago, St Lucia and St Vincent.

During burglaries the Night Stalker would wear a balaclava and shine a torch into his victims' faces after removing light bulbs or disconnecting the electricity. His victims were mostly women but are thought to have included 10 men.

The Night Stalker has eluded detectives despite facing a huge range of police tactics, from surveillance to the offer of a £40,000 reward. Because of his apparent ability to avoid detection, the police even considered the possibility that the suspect was a former police officer, or had knowledge of police systems.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...serial-sex-attacker-under-arrest-1821222.html

Another article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/nov/16/night-stalker-suspect-charges
 
attachment.php



Grant, who was told he will spend a minimum of 27 years behind bars as he was sentenced at Woolwich Crown Court in south London today, should have been stopped in his tracks 12 years ago, when police were given his car registration number. There were two further positive identifications in 2001 and 2003.
Detectives believe the 53-year-old’s tally of victims could even be as high as 1,000. Many of the elderly men and women on whom he preyed have either died or are too traumatised, ashamed or confused to come forward.

But DCI Sutton - who led a British investigation into the disappearance of Madeline McCann and was involved in the Millie Dowler case - caught Grant within days.
After discovering 100 out of 600 possible break-ins the 'Night Stalker' had been linked to were in the same street in Croydon, south London, a giant undercover 'rat trap' operation involving 70 officers was set up.

One of the force's three helicopters was also employed to hover at high altitude overhead, using powerful infra-red cameras to see in the dark.

On their first night of observation, the 'Night Stalker' struck three times, twice just to the north of their net and once to the south east, one street away.

'It's hard to imagine the extreme fear that the feel of your gloved hand and the sight of your masked figure looming above them must have been felt by your victims in their beds'

Judge Peter Rook, passing sentence
The timing of each burglary meant the suspect must have used a vehicle and travelled down Orchard Avenue.
 

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Britain's worst rapist Delroy Grant may have had an accomplice as he raped elderly women in south London during a 17-year reign of terror, it has emerged.

New evidence has come to light which suggests the so-called Night Stalker - who is currently serving four life terms for a string of horrific attacks - could have had help from John McGlynn, a 63-year-old who is behind bars for a raping an 88-year-old widow.
The attack, which took place in 1987, saw McGlynn and a second man - who has never been found - break into the woman's home before tieing her up and fleeing with her money.
2E436F1800000578-0-image-a-23_1447064057927.jpg




 
Grant, who was told he will spend a minimum of 27 years behind bars as he was sentenced at Woolwich Crown Court in south London today, should have been stopped in his tracks 12 years ago, when police were given his car registration number. There were two further positive identifications in 2001 and 2003.
RSBM/BBM

Why was he not arrested when he was ID'd nearly 10 years earlier? Many women could've been spared.
 

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