A MAN alleged to be the serial rapist known as the Night Stalker carried out attacks which were “the stuff of nightmares”, a court heard.

The prosecution in the case of Delroy Grant, who is accused of targeting elderly victims in a string of sex attacks and burglaries spanning 17 years, gave its closing speech at Woolwich Crown Court today.

Grant, of Brockley Mews, Brockley, is said to have committed 29 offences between 1992 and 2009 at homes in Bromley, Beckenham, Orpington, Croydon, Addiscombe, Shirley and Forest Hill.

The 53-year-old, a carer for his wheelchair-bound wife Jennifer, has been linked to the incidents by DNA, tool marks and CCTV.

Jonathan Laidlaw QC, prosecuting, said: “The nature of these offences, burglaries carried out at night by a highly skilled and proficient individual and then attacks launched upon the victims who were alone in their houses, really is the stuff of nightmares and what keeps us all awake at night.

“The deliberate targeting of the elderly takes the offending in this case to an altogether more serious level, and then there was the sickening and depraved nature of the sexual attacks suffered by nine of the victims.

“It was one thing to steal but then to launch gratuitous sexual attacks to humiliate was to take the offending to an altogether different scale.

“What could have motivated the perpetrator to commit offences such as these is difficult if not impossible to understand.

“Did he never stop to consider the impact of what he was doing to the elderly in the last years of their lives or think about their families? No, he did not.”

Grant claims his ex-wife Janet Watson, motivated by “hatred” and “malice”, framed him by using a male associate to plant DNA at the scenes of the offences.

The defendant was divorced by Ms Watson in 1979, yet he claimed to the court that she had kept samples of his semen and saliva for more than a decade before launching a campaign of attacks to incriminate him.

The prosecution said it was “a quite extraordinary account which simply defies belief”.

Mr Laidlaw said: “It’s such an incredible account that to respond to it is almost to dignify it.

“He simply refuses to face up to what he has done. His arrogance is such he assumes we will accept literally anything he will say.”

Grant allegedly gained entry to victims’ homes using tools to force open windows and doors before removing light bulbs and sometimes cutting telephone cables and electricity.

Other hallmarks of the offences included wearing a mask and gloves while wearing dark clothing from head to foot.

When Grant was arrested following a police chase in November 2009, the prosecution claim “a burglar’s kit” consisting of a torch, crowbar and changes of clothing were found in his car.

Grant denies 16 burglaries, two attempted burglaries, three rapes, one attempted rape, six indecent assaults and one sexual assault.

The trial continues.