LEEDS RAPIST RAYMOND MANNERS NABBED AFTER 26 YEARS THANKS TO FORENSIC ADVANCES
Leeds serial rapist brought to justice thanks to advances in forensic scientific.Raymond Manners was convicted of a heinous attack after breaking into a woman's home in the Chapeltown area of Leeds on November 23, 1991.
The attacker climbed through a window while the woman was asleep in her bed and subjected her to a sexual assault before fleeing the scene.
Despite forensic evidence collected at the time, it was not initially possible to connect the evidence to any suspect.
Manners, who worked at Network Rail for 33 years, was arrested in 2012 following a cold case review that linked him to the 1991 attack through DNA evidence.
The evidence was statistically linked to Manners with a one in a billion chance of being someone else.
He had previously been jailed in 2012 for ten years after pleading guilty to two offences of rape related to two other women in similar circumstances in Leeds in 1979.
Manners, who denied his involvement in the 1991 attack at the time, finally pleaded guilty to the rape in this case during the court hearing.
He was sentenced to an additional 12 years in prison, which will be added to his existing sentence.
Leeds Crown Court Judge Tom Bayliss described the case as "the ultimate nightmare for any woman asleep in her own home at night," emphasizing the brutal nature of the crime and Manners's impact on his victim’s life.
The judge criticized Manners for not admitting guilt earlier when questioned in 2012, stating, "You have ruined your victim’s life, and although now you have pleaded guilty, you had the opportunity of admitting the offence when interviewed about it in 2012.
You must now take the consequences." Detective Chief Inspector Jim Dunkerley expressed his satisfaction with the result, highlighting the importance of forensic science and determined detective work in solving cold cases.
He praised the investigation team and forensic partners for their efforts and warned that Manners, despite being in prison for other crimes, was not forgotten and would face additional time behind bars for this offence.
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