December 2016 Serial Nuneaton sex attacker found guilty of another rape WHEN police officers investigated the terrifying rape of a 15-year-old girl in 1987 they were given information which led them straight to the home of schoolboy Mark Harrison. But after speaking to him for just 5-10 minutes at his home in Edward Street, Nuneaton, they left without arresting him. The officers did not conduct a formal interview, take a sample from him for DNA comparison or even check whether he had clothes which matched those of the rapist. Now, almost 30 years after his rape of the girl on land at the edge of the Pingles leisure park in Nuneaton, a jury at Warwick Crown Court has taken just 50 minutes to convict him. And the court has heard that in the intervening period Harrison had gone on to brutally attack and rape one woman and attack and attempt to rape another. As a result, he is already serving an extended sentence of 24 years in prison, of which he will have to serve at least 16 years before he can even be considered for parole, with a further four years on licence after the expiry of that period. His barrister Ian Speed commented: “One can only reflect on how different things might have been if he had been dealt with at the time and may have received assistance inside, and what two other victims might not have gone through.” For raping the schoolgirl when he was also 15, Harrison (45) formerly of Croft Road, Nuneaton, was jailed for 11 years. That will not add to his overall sentence, but Judge Stephen Eyre QC said he was taking steps to make sure the Parole Board is aware of his assessment of Harrison’s dangerousness. During his trial the court heard Harrison was finally brought to justice thanks to the setting up of Operation Scenic by Warwickshire Police in 2014 to look into unsolved ‘cold cases.’ A review of the DNA evidence provided a full-profile match between semen recovered from the girl’s jeans and Harrison, with the odds of it being from anyone else being one in a billion. By then he was already serving a 20-year sentence imposed in December 2013 for the brutal rape of a woman he had attacked as she was walking home later at night in 1992, and the extended sentence for the attempted rape of another woman after grabbing her and dragging her into a Nuneaton churchyard in 2002. Outlining the rape of the schoolgirl, prosecutor Stefan Kolodynski said that in March 1987 she had spent the evening with friends, two of whom accompanied her part of the way home before she told them she could make her own way. As she walked along a path along the edge of the Pingles leisure park, Harrison, wearing a balaclava covering most of his face, ran past her from behind and then stopped and turned back. Without warning, he grabbed her in an arm lock and dragged her backwards to some nearby bushes. As the terrified girl pleaded with him to let her go, he forced her to the ground, knelt on her arms, pinning her down, and pulled her jacket and blouse open, and lifted her bra. He then quickly got up and turned round to kneel astride her facing away from her before undoing her belt and ripping her jeans open so the top button popped off. Harrison then dragged her a little further, and as she talked to him to try to persuade him to stop, he revealed that he attended George Eliot School. She said he let go of her and ordered her to strip, and when she asked whether he meant everything, Harrison, who said he had a knife, told her: “Just your jeans will do.” Asked why he was doing it, she said he told her: “I suppose I get my kicks.” She did as she was told, and as she took one leg out of her jeans he pushed her down on her back and began kissing her and digitally penetrating her before raping her at his second attempt. He then stood up, pulled up his jeans and ran off, and the girl ran home and told her mother what had happened. She was examined by a police surgeon who took swabs from her and from her clothing, including the crotch of her jeans. From her description of her attacker and the name of his school, the police spoke to Harrison, but he was never arrested and no sample was taken from him for comparison. The samples taken from the girl were archived and left into cold storage – until Operation Scenic was set up. When Harrison was finally arrested in December last year, he replied: “I am innocent.” And he claimed he had never had sex until he was 18 years old. Giving evidence, in response to questions from Mr Speed, Harrison said he was aware of the investigation at the time because the police had come to his home. But he said they spoke to him for just 5-10 minutes, and there had been no mention by the officers of his clothing, or of an identity parade being held or samples being taken from him. Harrison asserted: “Everything that’s said about me isn’t true at all. I’m not that kind of person. I don’t act rough towards males or females in that way. There’s a genuine mistake somewhere with the DNA.” He said he did not accept the DNA evidence which linked him to the rape in 1992 or the attempted rape in 2002, despite having pleaded guilty to that offence, and did not accept it was his semen on the girl’s jeans. After the jury returned its verdict, Mr Koldynski read out part of the victim’s statement, in which she said: “For me, the ordeal I suffered is something I have to live with every day.” Mr Speed pointed out that Harrison’s earliest date of release, subject to the Parole Board’s decision, would be 2030. “But by his stance with regard to not accepting his guilt, his actual sentence will not be terminated until 2042.” Jailing Harrison, who already has to register as a sex offender for life, Judge Eyre told him: “This was a rape at night of a young woman, and you used violence and threatened even more violence. It was a terrifying ordeal for her. “She has shown great courage in getting on with her life, but your actions have had a great effect on her. “You committed very similar offences in February 1992 and in August 2002, using violence to rape or attempt to rape lone women walking through Nuneaton at night. “I have no doubt you are a dangerous offender. If I were sentencing you now for the 2002 offence, knowing you had started at the age of 16, I would be considering a life sentence.”