 |
| Basic errors: Seven elementary mistakes by detectives meant Delroy Grant was able to carry out a series of t, was convicted on Thursday of 'sickening and depraved' attacks on pensioners during a 17-year campaign of terror |
Police officers made a series of astonishing basic errors that helped ‘Night Stalker’ Delroy Grant continue his reign of terror on the elderly for over a decade, the police watchdog has revealed.
Grant, 53, was ordered to serve four life sentences in March after attacking hundreds of elderly men and women in their homes between 1992 and 2009.
But the evil former minicab driver could have been stopped but for seven Scotland Yard blunders, including failures to obtain proper witness statements, a lack of house-to-house inquiries and a missed chance to arrest and question Grant.
Confusion over the suspect's name, failures in communication and a string of mistakes in the initial phase of investigations had ‘potentially dire consequences’, according to a report from the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
The IPCC report related to a police chance to detain Grant - who is believed to have preyed on hundreds of elderly men and women across south London - after an eyewitness to one of his burglaries in Bromley in May 1999.
The witness saw the balaclava-clad suspect and took a note of his BMW's registration number, which was confirmed by officers to belong to Grant.
Yet Grant was not arrested or asked to give a DNA sample which could have linked him with his catalogue of crimes.
The IPCC's Operation Minstead final report singled out seven points in the 1999 investigation which ‘should have been pursued’.
Police failed to obtain statements from the victim and the eyewitness or confirm property details of what was stolen.
They also did not undertake house-to-house inquiries, obtain a search warrant for Grant's address or recover the vehicle for forensic examination.
And incredibly, despite evidence linking him to the crime, detectives singularly failed to arrest and interview Grant.
Police were forced to apologise for bungling the manhunt before Grant was jailed for life.
The 53-year-old former minicab driver, of Brockley Mews, Honor Oak, was convicted at Woolwich Crown Court in March of a 17-year campaign of perverted terror.
Commander Simon Foy then apologised for the paperwork blunder which led to the DNA of another suspect scuppering attempts to snare the attacker.
‘We are deeply sorry for the trauma suffered by all those victims and our failure to bring Grant to justice earlier,’ he said.
 |
| Police apologised for botched chances to stop the 53-year-old rapist earlier as he was found guilty of preying on the elderly in a campaign of perverted terror lasting 17 years |
 |
| A crowbar in the boot of the Vauxhall Zafira which Delroy Grant used to enter a house on October 18, 2009 |
Between 1992 and 2009 the masked Grant preyed on frail men and women and violated them in their homes, sometimes for several hours.
Many of his victims - aged up to 89 - were blind, deaf or had conditions including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.
He was convicted of 29 charges against 18 victims between October 1992 and November 2009.
But police fear the true number of victims is much higher.
The former minicab driver and one-time Jehovah’s Witness will stay in prison for at least 27 years.
Passing sentence in March, Judge Peter Rook said the rapist’s ‘utter depravity knows no boundsand that his offending ‘is in a league of its own’.
He said Grant subjected his victims to ‘humiliating and degrading’ attacks that robbed them of their ‘winter years’.
And he added: ‘I have no doubt you are a very dangerous man capable of committing heinous crimes and of causing incalculable harm to people.
‘It will be a matter for the Parole Board if you will ever be released and it may be that you will never be.’
 |
| CCTV footage of the Night Stalker's Vauxhall Zafira which eventually led to Delroy Grant being identified |
6th May 2011
No comments:
Post a Comment