A SERIAL rapist known as the Night Stalker has been found guilty of carrying out a string of sex attacks and burglaries on pensioners over the course of 17 years.
Jurors at Woolwich Crown Court today convicted Delroy Grant, of Brockley Mews, Brockley, of 29 offences including 16 burglaries, two attempted burglaries, three rapes, one attempted rape, six indecent assaults and one sexual assault.
Grant was found guilty of all charges by a majority of 10 to two.
The 53-year-old’s attacks relate to 18 separate incidents at homes in Bromley, Beckenham, Orpington, Forest Hill and Croydon between 1992 and 2009.
Grant, who denied all charges, claimed 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 insisted that she had kept samples of his semen and saliva for more than a decade before launching a campaign of attacks to incriminate him.
Most of Grant’s victims, both men and women in their 80s, lived alone and seven have since died.
Jonathan Laidlaw, QC, prosecuting, said: "What it was that motivated him to carry out sexual offences on the very elderly and what sort of gratification he could possibly have achieved is obviously difficult if not impossible to understand."
Grant broke into homes by forcing open windows or doors and would often unscrew light bulbs, cut telephone cables and turn off electricity.
Wearing dark clothing, a balaclava and gloves, he would wake victims in the middle of the night demanding money while shining a torch in their faces.
Police linked Grant to the offences through a combination of DNA, tool marks and CCTV footage.
Grant’s attacks were described by Mr Laidlaw as “the stuff of nightmares” and “what keeps us all awake at night”.
When giving his closing statement, he said: “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.”
TIMELINE OF TERROR
October 11, 1992, Shirley: During a burglary Grant rapes an 89-year-old widow pressing her face down so hard that her false teeth dislodge.
September 5, 1998, Warlingham: Burglary, indecent assault and attempted rape of an 81-year-old woman, who suffered chronic arthritis.
June to August, 1999, Beckenham, Orpington, Coulsdon, Addiscombe, Shirley, Croydon: Grant carries out six burglaries, one attempted burglary, two rapes and four indecent assaults. One of his victims, an 88-year-old widow from Orpington, said her attacker was “completely covered from head to foot in…a cat type suit” and described the attack as “brutal and dreadful”.
October 19-20, 2002, Shirley: Burglary and indecent assault of 77-year-old spinster. Victim successfully puts up “spirited resistance” as she fears she is about to be raped.
March 8, 2003, West Dulwich: Burglary of 78-year-old widow. She describes burglar as “a huge black figure looming over her” who is “considerate”. Grant washes victim’s hand in an attempt to remove any DNA.
September 8, 2004, Bromley: Burglary of 84-year-old widow. Victim hands over money after pleading “Don’t hurt me, please don’t hurt me.”
May to November, 2009: Bromley, Croydon, Thornton Heath, Forest Hill, Shirley: Grant commits five burglaries, one attempted burglary and one sexual assault before his luck finally runs out and he is arrested.
ARREST
November 15 – Operation Minstead surveillance officers see Grant running along Orchard Avenue, Shirley, and get into a Vauxhall Zafira shortly after midnight.
Police follow Grant’s car until he is stopped and arrested in Witham Road, Beckenham.
Grant was wearing three t-shirts, two pairs of trousers and two pairs of boxer shorts and had a torch in his pocket.
In his car officers found tools including a crowbar, bolt cutter, pliers and hammer, as well as clothing previously seen worn by the suspect.
When police asked where he had been that evening, Grant said he had been trying to buy cannabis.
At Lewisham police station while Grant’s fingerprints were being taken, the officer told him: “I am making sure I get ink all over your hands and get a good print from you” to which Grant replied: “I don’t know why you’re bothering, I always wear gloves”.
November 16 – Grant is said to have told a civilian officer that he would rather admit any offences than have to go to court.
November 19 – Grant tries to pin the blame on his son, telling a detective: “I don’t want to fit anyone up. Have you thought about my son? Delroy Junior? He lives in the right area and he is the same height as me.”
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