The sick and depraved night stalker Delroy Grant has finally been brought to justice after 17 years of terrorising pensioners. Yesterday the 53-year-old was found guilty of 29 counts of preying on the elderly and awaits what will probably be a life sentence in jail. It is thought that as many as 500 pensioners were targeted by the pervert in South London between 1992 and 2009 for burglaries, sex assaults and rapes.
The incidents happened across a wide area including West Dulwich, Beckenham, Bromley, Addiscombe, Warlingham, Shirley and Orpington.
The oldest of his victims was 89 and the masked Grant is thought to have hastened many of their deaths by breaking into their homes and subjecting them to hours of abuse. Some of those who are still alive will continue to give evidence against the mini cab driver at Woolwich Crown Court.
Grant offered a bizarre defence for the litany of DNA evidence that was brought against him, saying that his ex wife had taken a syringe of his body fluids and deposited specimens at all the crime scenes. Grant even went as far as to try and lay the blame on his son Delroy Grant Junior.
Questions are being asked about the competency of the Metropolitan Police and Scotland Yard after officers eliminated Grant from the list of suspects at an early stage. One officer had identified the night stalker in 1999 but then confused him with his son.
Apologising for the DNA mix up which let Grant off the hook, Commander Simon Foy of the Metropolitan Police's homicide and serious crime command said: "We are deeply sorry for the trauma suffered by all those victims and our failure to bring Grant to justice earlier.” Delroy Grant has been described as the most malevolent sex attacker in British history and Judge Peter Rook QC has assured him that he will be imprisoned for a long time.
