egafd.com

Delroy Grant, dubbed the Nightstalker, has been convicted of raping and assaulting elderly victims in south London over a period of 17 years. The police linked him to over 200 crimes but think it might have been considerably higher.

Among a string of Grant's explanations at Woolwich for his innocence was his claim that his ex-wife stored his semen in 1977, then waited 15 years to frame him for the crimes. Grant also tried to blame his own son telling officers: "Have you thought about my son Delroy Junior?"

Officers had been hunting the Night Stalker, under the codename Operation Minstead, since 1998 when two rapes were linked to the same attacker. Police missed a key chance to stop Grant in 1999 because of a paperwork blunder.

He was mistakenly ruled out of a police inquiry when the DNA of another suspect with a similar name was confused with his. An officer also visited Grant's home but, after finding he was not there, never returned to speak to him.

After another cockup in the case of John Worboys, a London taxi driver and their unbelievable incompetence with regard to the News of the World phone tapping case, time for a comprehensive external review of the Met methinks.

Cheers
D

Apparently Delroy Grant is also a Jehova's Witness. The mind boggles...

According to the Telegraph, Grant was

Warm, charming and always friendly he was apparently a devoted carer to his wife Jennifer, who was paralysed as a result of multiple sclerosis. He followed cricket, liked to fish and enjoyed community barbeques where he would share jokes and reminisce about his childhood in Jamaica.

The neighbour of the guy, arrested for the Swindon girl's murder
and implicated in a second body, said how he was a really likeable, friendly person.

It would be a blessed relief if a neighbour for once would say, "Yeah, right bastard, not surprised at all he's being done for murder!"

Cheers
D

I remember doing a child protection course thru work a while back and the trainer said if you advertsied for a nanny and got 20 applicants the perfect CV would likely be the paedo, they are that good at hiding their intentions hence why so few get caught. However this investigation has been a firking disaster and the Met should be sued for negligence on a biblical scale.

Except that the tax payer will end up paying the bill as always happens when official bodies are found against in negligence cases. Better perhaps, though very difficult, would be a way of making individual officers liable for their failings.

According to the Mirror...

Two detective constables have received ?words of advice? following the IPCC investigation into the errors. ?Commissioner Deborah Glass said: ?It is clear a simple misunderstanding had horrific consequences. Police missed the opportunity because confusion led to the wrong man?s DNA being compared.?

Well that's sorted then!

Cheers
D

This is when the police were, "Bothered" and didn't just expect CCTV to solve crimes, note the words, "While on patrol". No such thing anymore.

"The Yorkshire Ripper was finally caught on 2 January 1981. Police surveillance of prostitutes and their clients paid off. Sergeant Robert Ring and PC Robert Hydes recognised 24-year-old Olive Reivers while on patrol. She and Sutcliffe were in a parked car down in Melbourne Lane. Olive had been cautioned for prostitution before and had a forthcoming court appearance for another offence. Sutcliffe?s story was that he was "Peter Williams" and he was just out with his girlfriend. The police weren?t convinced and checked the plates on the car which proved to be stolen. Sutcliffe asked if he could get out to urinate and Hydes gave permission; Sutcliffe stood by an oil storage tank a few feet away, then got back into the car. He was then taken back to the police station for questioning, Sutcliffe again asked to go to the lavatory and was given permission. When the police searched him they found a length of clothesline on him. It made police begin to think that they might have caught Britain?s most wanted man."

It was the following day that Sergeant Ring learned about Sutcliffe?s brief absence from the car to relieve himself, and went to look near the oil storage tank. In the leaves, he found a ball-headed hammer and a knife. Then he recalled Sutcliffe?s trip to the lavatory at the police station. In the cistern he found a second knife. When Sutcliffe was told that he was in serious trouble, he suddenly admitted that he was the Ripper, and confessed to the murders.

They found out that the mans real name was Peter Sutcliffe who was a lorry-driver and married to a Czech woman. Sutcliffe was formerly employed as a grave digger, and claimed that gods voice emanated from a grave and ordered him to kill prostitutes.

Sutcliffe?s trial began on 5 May 1981. He had pleaded not guilty to murder on grounds of diminished responsibility, and told the story of his ?mission? from god. On 22 May Sutcliffe was found guilty of murder, and jailed for life, with recommendation that he should serve at least thirty years."

West Yorks police may have 'bothered' as you put it, Jim, but it took them so long to catch him because they put so much effort into barking up several wrong trees and collecting and filing so much information and evidence on record cards (pre-computerisation) that they eventually couldn't see the wood for the trees. Sutcliffe was caught by chance, by a cop, 'while on patrol' in a car, not on foot.

Never happens....well not in CSI anyway.

Jim Slip`s account is a splendid precis - andy - but quite accurate. He does
not say on foot he says "on patrol", and you are quite right, they were in
a car ! As was Sutcliffe.
I would refer you to Michael Bilton`s definitive account "Wicked Beyond
Belief" (Harper Collins 2003) for a hugely detailed story.
What is not well known - and author Bilton was the first to reveal in
print - is what Sutcliffe was wearing beneath his normal day clothes !
No underpants but he wore a V- necked sweater - his legs in the "arms"
for extra warmth, while his genital area was thus open and ready for
action !! Clever and creepy !