Early Release Sparks New Assault: Convicted Rapist Targets 13-Year-Old Girl

Donovan Grant, aged 25, was released early from a six-year prison sentence for raping a 16-year-old girl. Despite serving less than three-and-a-half years of his sentence, he was freed under parole conditions that banned him from communicating with girls. However, shortly after his release from Maidstone Prison in Kent in February 2005, he targeted a 13-year-old girl in Ilford, Essex. Grant approached her at a bus stop, initially asking to be her friend and later trying to lure her into a building site for sex. The girl told police that he was "really friendly at first and asked if he could be my friend. He walked me around and said he wanted to have sex but I said 'No'". Prosecutor Kate Davey reported that Grant led her to a subway and suggested they have sex there, but she pulled away. She later followed him to a building site because she was lost, where officers saw Grant with his jeans down. Grant was overheard shouting, "I'm not going back to prison... I can't believe how stupid I am for talking to a girl." Grant confessed to inciting her to sexual activity. Judge David Pitman sentenced him to 20 months in prison and ordered him to serve the remaining two and a half years of his previous rape sentence. Authorities stated that "He was trying to groom her," highlighting the danger he posed to young girls. The case prompted an investigation into why Grant was released early under parole conditions that forbade such conduct.