UK UK- "Batman Rapist'', committed 17+ knife point sexual assaults, tight fetish, blindfolds with hairband,1991-2000, Bath, * DNA, Operation Eagle*

[dotr]

BBC's Crimewatch staged a reconstruction of one of the serial rapist's attempted attacks in January 2000 (Image: BBC Crimewatch)

What we know about the 'Batman rapist' who attacked women in Bath

It is Britain's longest-running serial rape investigation and remains unsolved

www.somersetlive.co.uk

By Michael Taylor, 1 AUG 2020 rbbm.
''Nicknamed the "Batman Rapist", the man is known to have committed at least 17 sexual assaults in Bath and Kingswood between 1991 and 2000.
Avon and Somerset Police launched several high profile appeals on BBC's Crimewatch, sent 25,000 leaflets to residents in Bath and surrounding areas and even DNA tested up to 2,000 men.

The investigation, codenamed Operation Eagle, has been described as one of the most complicated and protracted investigations the force had ever undertaken and is Britain's longest-running serial rape investigation.''



''He was known to target woman in their cars, often at knife point, drive them to a quiet area to attack them before returning the victim where she was found.
The BBC reports some of his victims were "forced to wear tights and were blindfolded with a hairband".

As part of Operation Eagle, police officers sent 25,000 leaflets to addresses in the BA1 and BA2 postcode areas in October 2000.
Avon and Somerset Police asked residents to recall if any of the men they knew matched most of these characteristics:

• a white male
• of slim or medium build
• aged between 30 and 50
• knows the Bath area well, and has some connection with Bristol, particularly the Kingswood area, and can drive a car.

The leaflet also suggested that women must be able to tick yes to two of these three descriptions:

• he has a tights fetish and he could get his sexual partner to wear tights which he may rip during intercourse
• he sometimes wears a baseball cap
• he has aroused suspicion with absences from home during the evening and early hours of the morning

Up to 2,000 men DNA tested in hunt to find assailant''​

 

[dotr]

2000

Police link 11 attacks to serial rapist

Detectives hunting a serial rapist who has struck at least 11 times over the past nine years yesterday linked the knifepoint attacks for the first time.

www.theguardian.com

''As far as the police can tell, the rapist first struck on May 21 1991, when a 36-year-old woman was abducted at knifepoint as she tried to park her car in Coronation Avenue, Bath.

She was forced to drive to a quiet lane where she was attacked. Five months later an 18-year-old was grabbed by a man as she walked up Bathwick Hill in Bath. She was marched to a field where she was subjected to a serious sexual assault.

There was a three-year gap before the next attack, and then a further two years of apparent inactivity.

Three women were attacked in 1996 and three more in 1997. The last assault was on Tuesday January 26 1999.

On that occasion a man attempted to abduct a 39-year-old woman in Forrester Lane, Bathwick, Bath, but was scared off when she screamed for help.

As he ran away he dropped a faded grey baseball cap with a green "Batman Forever" logo embossed on the front.

Within 10 minutes he had abducted another woman in a nearby road. He forced her to drive to the village of Monkton Combe just off the A36 where he assaulted her.

Only one of the attacks happened outside Bath - a 19-year-old woman was abducted from Kingswood, Bristol, and raped in September 1996.''

 

[tes1984]

How old was this offender?
The description in 1999 when he drops the baseball cap is youthful and around 24 years old, but a year later in 2000 they are now looking for a 30-50 year old.

 

[dotr]

• Batman rapist - Wikipedia.
• ''A white male.
• Slim or medium build.
• Aged between 30 and 50.
• Knew the Bath area well, and had some connection with Bristol, particularly the Kingswood area, and could drive a car.
• Had a fetish for tights and could persuade his consenting sexual partners to wear tights, which he may have ripped during intercourse.
• Sometimes wore a baseball cap.
• Has aroused suspicion with absences from home during the evening and early hours of the morning.[15]

The rapist had long periods of apparent inactivity, including a three-year gap between October 1991 and November 1994, followed by a further two years of apparent inactivity until June 1996. Police suspect that there were other attacks during these lulls in activity, although a spokesman has said; "Another possibility to explain the long gaps is that this is a man who comes to the area infrequently, possibly for work reasons."[3] His attacks may also have taken place while the rapist is between relationships.[5] The rapist's attacks were usually between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., "possibly on the way home from work", or between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m., and he may have had convictions for car-related crimes "because of the ease with which he breaks into vehicles."[16]

 

[tes1984]

The stuff about the ease with which he breaks into vehicles is misleading. He forced open the driver's door, and pushed the victim into the passenger side, but he didn't ever actually break into vehicles.

The stuff about him committing crimes on the way home from work 6-8pm is also hugely speculative.

 

[LadyL]

if he was on parole his DNA would be in the system correct?
could he have been in the navy or something and attacks took place when he was on leave?
maybe he was out of the country during those lulls and still attacking

 

[tes1984]

if he was on parole his DNA would be in the system correct?
could he have been in the navy or something and attacks took place when he was on leave?
maybe he was out of the country during those lulls and still attacking

I think his DNA would only be on the UK national database if he had been convicted of a major crime since 1995 (or a minor crime since 2004).
I don't think the police have run an advanced familial test on his DNA since at least 2020. In fact they may never have done a familial test.

Navy is a possible occupation, but I think the lulls could be for all sorts of reasons.
Perhaps he had additional victims in for example 1992 or 1995 who didn't report their attacks. Police now seem to be attributing a 1993 attack to him, so there wasn't actually a 3 year lull between 1991 and 94. It was actually more like 18 months.

 

[dotr]

How detective tried to catch 'Batman Rapist'

The high ranking officer tried to get into the mind of serial sex offender

www.somersetlive.co.uk

By
Michael Taylor 30 AUG 2019 rbbm.
''With a masters degree in forensic psychology, the former detective chief superintendent was brought into the investigation with an eye to finally crack the case.
He told Bath.Live how he, and a team with "great desire to solve the crime", built a profile of the serial rapist in order to have a greater understanding of who they were looking for.
"I first became involved when I was detective inspector. It was around 1999 when he started offending again", he said.''

''The team learned of "distinctive behaviours" and how the "opportunist" serial rapist would target women who would park their vehicles in Bath and outside the city centre.

He added: "The offender knew that at 5pm, predominately during the winter months, those females would come back to their cars in these locations and he used them, if you like, as a stalking type area.''
Very distinctively, he would abduct them in their own cars, drive them to isolated areas on the outskirts of the city where he would carry out the offence.
"On majority of the cases, he would bring them back in their own vehicles which put him in huge jeopardy of potentially being caught.''
"That was a very distinctive and unusual modus operandi."

 

[tes1984]

He forced his victims to lie with their heads on his lap when he was driving, so they couldn't see him, or be seen from outside the vehicle. He also sometimes used headbands to blindfold his victims.

The offender also had a fetish for tights, and enjoyed ripping them during his attacks. On one occasion, a victim wasn't wearing any tights, so he produced a pair from his own pocket and forced her to put them on.

 

[dotr]

He forced his victims to lie with their heads on his lap when he was driving, so they couldn't see him, or be seen from outside the vehicle. He also sometimes used headbands to blindfold his victims.

The offender also had a fetish for tights, and enjoyed ripping them during his attacks. On one occasion, a victim wasn't wearing any tights, so he produced a pair from his own pocket and forced her to put them on.

A girlfriend past or present would recognize and remember a guy who had a tight fetish, maybe a stockings vendor would recall selling an unusual amount to a male customer.imo.
Speaking of stockings/tights, wondering if they were they all the same colour & style?
Same question regarding the choice of victims.

 

[tes1984]

All the attacks took place in Bath, apart from one which was in Kingswood in Bristol.

The police called in Professor David Canter to try and predict where the offender lived. The case was featured in Canter's television series 'Mapping Murder'. Professor Canter identified the offender's likely comfort zone (near a leisure centre in central Bath) but wasn't able to say whether the offender lived in Bath, or commuted there from somewhere else.

The offender was described as having accent local to Bath.

 

[RosalindaA]

Seriously, you would think British police are still living in the Dark Ages. When they clearly have a strong DNA profile why are they not using IGG ( Investigative Genetic Genealogy ). They already tested 2000 men voluntarily over the years so let's not have the old spiel about privacy. The UK led the world in using DNA to solve crime.

Stick the profile or profiles of this rapist(s) into GedMatch and make some arrests before the offender(s) and victims die of old age. It could take just a few hours to get a name for this man. British people are easy to track on these databases as genetic genealogy as so many US, Canadian and Australian people have British ancestors. It is cost-effective and scientific, indisputable, gold standard evidence.
What are the police afraid of, that they are going to discover he is another police officer rapist?

And while they are at it they could do the same for all the cold case murders (eg Janet Brown, Buckinghamshire, 1995) which is a case I would love to see solved amongst others. I wish the families would put pressure on for this technique to be used (although they shouldn't have to).
It might even lead to some good publicity for the UK police which they are sorely in need of at the moment, I cannot remember a time when the public have had such a low opinion of them. Get on with it!

 

[tes1984]

A girlfriend past or present would recognize and remember a guy who had a tight fetish, maybe a stockings vendor would recall selling an unusual amount to a male customer.imo.
Speaking of stockings/tights, wondering if they were they all the same colour & style?
Same question regarding the choice of victims.

It was around 17 attacks spaced out over a decade, so I doubt if he would have needed to buy tights in bulk. I suspect he 'borrowed' the tights and headbands from his own wife or girlfriend.

I'm not sure if the tights used were all the same colour or style.

His victims were aged between 16 and 40. I think they were all caucasian, but I may be wrong. The youngest victim was a 16 year old schoolgirl, who was out trick or treating on Halloween, and got separated from her friends.

The 16 year old was snatched off the street, and dragged to a quiet spot, so he didn't always use cars as part of his MO.

 

[tes1984]

Composite sketch from 1994, when he was spotted prowling.

 

[tes1984]

Composite sketch from a failed attack in 1999.

 

[mst]

Do we have any idea why he stopped?

 

[tes1984]

He sometimes wore a black bomber jacket and black trousers. On one occasion he wore dark blue work trousers. On another he wore a florescent yellow top. The Crimewatch reconstruction shows him wearing dark jeans and trainers.

 

[tes1984]

Do we have any idea why he stopped?

He might have been scared into exile in 2000, once he realised the police had his DNA, and had started the mass DNA testing of thousands of suspects.

He was also possibly approaching middle age by the early 2000s, so perhaps he was no longer so confident he could control victims or outrun cops.

 

[mst]

He might have been scared into exile in 2000, once he realised the police had his DNA, and had started the mass DNA testing of thousands of suspects.

He was also possibly approaching middle age by the early 2000s, so perhaps he was no longer so confident he could control victims or outrun cops.

i also wonder if there were any large companies or sources of employment that were closed down or moved out of the area around then

 

[pol100gk]

Seriously, you would think British police are still living in the Dark Ages. When they clearly have a strong DNA profile why are they not using IGG ( Investigative Genetic Genealogy ). They already tested 2000 men voluntarily over the years so let's not have the old spiel about privacy. The UK led the world in using DNA to solve crime.

Here is an explanation on how IGG is used in the UK: Should we be making use of genetic genealogy to assist in solving crime? A report on the feasibility of such methods in the UK (accessible version)