RAPIST CONVICTED OF 2006 ATTACK AFTER DNA MATCH
A rapist has been convicted of an attack on a teenage girl in 2006 after a DNA breakthrough.A jury found Kennedy Jimmy, 44, guilty of rape following a five-day trial at Luton Crown Court.
In October 2006, when he was 25, Jimmy, of Wessex Court, Sunny Bank, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, attacked his victim in the back of a car in a supermarket car park in Shefford.
He was arrested in November 2022 after a DNA match was found during a review of rape and sexual assault cases by the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Major Crime Unit.
—————————————————————————————————— SENTENCING UPDATE —————————————————————————————————— A predator who dragged a teenage girl into the back of a car and raped her in a supermarket car park has finally been locked up — two decades after the attack.
Kennedy Jimmy, then 25, struck in Shefford on October 7, 2006.
According to Bedfordshire Police, he arrived at the car park with a friend and lay in wait while the victim and her friend went inside a shop.
When the opportunity came, he allegedly pulled the teenage girl into the back of the vehicle and carried out the assault.
The victim managed to break free and fled to a nearby pub.
Her friend raised the alarm and police launched an investigation — but the attacker, known to her only as “Kenny”, vanished into the shadows.
For years, the case went cold.
Then came a breakthrough.
Under Operation Painter — a specialist review of historic rape and sexual assault cases — fresh forensic testing uncovered a crucial DNA match.
The discovery led officers to Jimmy, who was arrested in November 2022.
Now 44, and living in Sunny Bank, Stoke-on-Trent, Jimmy was convicted of rape following a trial at Luton Crown Court in October 2025.
He has now been jailed for six years and handed a lifelong restraining order.
Detective Constable Rhian Batterham-Jones said the case proves that offenders cannot outrun science.
She stated that while Jimmy may have believed he had escaped justice, advances in forensic technology — combined with persistent investigative work — ensured he was identified and brought before the courts.
She also praised the victim’s courage in revisiting the trauma of the attack after 20 years, adding that historic cases can still result in convictions and urging other victims to report offences, regardless of how much time has passed.
