Emergence of A Linked Series
Grant is an accomplished burglar and has broken into the homes of over 90 elderly women aged between 68 and 93. He is positively linked to four reported rapes and around 30 other sexual assaults. Police believe he is also responsible for at least another two rapes where the victims felt unable to make any official allegation. The true total may be higher as his victims are often too traumatised to speak to police. In addition, the Operation Minstead investigation team have to decide which incidents are unmistakably the work of the same offender and which are similar but possibly unrelated. Therefore many possible Minstead incidents flagged up by police for the attention of the Operation Minstead team cannot be definitely confirmed as the work of the same offender so must be excluded from the linked series. The confirmed series of offences began in October 1992 in the Shirley area of Croydon. However due to a break of four years between this first attack and a spate of others, Operation Minstead was not set up until 1998.
Although committing many crimes, Grant was dormant for long periods. After the first attack in October 1992, no further offences were reported until 1997. After a particularly violent rape on 5 August 1999 where his victim almost died from her injuries, there was another long break. This prompted some media speculation that the rapist had been imprisoned for an unrelated offence or that he had died. However on 13 October 2002, ten years after the first attack, he struck again. Seven confirmed attacks took place in the summer of 2003. Another break then followed.
A further series of confirmed attacks took place towards the end of 2008, and into mid-2009.
Detective Superintendent Simon Morgan who headed the Minstead team from 2001 to October 2009, explained the problems in arriving at a definitive total of offences in this series by saying "His victims come from a generation who are inclined to see good in everyone. One thanked him for being gentle when he raped her". Another said she didn’t want to dial 999 "because I know the police are already so busy".
Read more about this topic: Delroy Easton Grant
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