Detective in tears over 'Night stalker' rape victim

A detective was reduced to tears as the oldest victim of the Night Stalker rapist said she regretted reporting the attack to police, a court heard today.

The "proud and private" 89-year-old victim was left crying and shaking as she was inspected by doctors after being raped twice in her home, police said.

In the first witness statements read out at the trial of Delroy Grant, Detective Constable Yvette Daniel recalled that the frail victim was clearly traumatised as doctors inspected her wounds.

The officer said she was personally "upset and concerned" as the old woman tightly held her hand after the horrific attack in Shirley, south London, in 1992.

"I wish I had not reported it now," the victim was said to have told the detective.

~Det Con Daniel added: "As she said that, I had tears in my eyes."

Grant, a 53-year-old former minicab driver, is accused of preying on elderly women and men across south London during a 17-year reign of terror.

A second victim, an acute arthritis sufferer from Warlingham, Surrey, said she believed her attacker was "going to finish me off".

The 81-year-old, who was attacked in September 1998, said she did not initially want to tell her son about the extent of the attack because he would have been "horrified".

The attacker could not pull her legs apart as her arthritis was so bad, the court heard.

She then feigned heart problems and "pulled a face" when a torch was shone at her in a bid to make him think she was seriously ill.

Recalling the attack, she said: "It is a nasty feeling to know that a stranger has been through your home."

She said she thought he was going to "nobble her", adding: "By that I mean I was fearful he was going to finish me off. The assault was absolutely ghastly."

The victims, both now dead, described how the attacker appeared in their bedrooms while masked and gave little away to reveal his identity.

Grant, of Brockley Mews, Honor Oak, south-east London, denies 29 charges relating to burglaries, attempted burglaries, rapes and indecent assaults against 18 pensioners between October 1992 and November 2009.