THE METROPOLITAN POLICE have admitted that a series of errors meant that a man who committed sexual and violent attacks on elderly people in their own homes over a 17-year period was not apprehended years sooner.

Delroy Grant, 53, has been convicted of attacks on  18 men and women between 1992 and 2009, but police have said the total number of his victims is likely to be far higher.

The charges included rape, attempted burglary and indecent assault.

The attacker was dubbed the ‘Night Stalker’ because of his tendency to target vulnerable people at night in their homes. He would cut phonelines and tie victims up to increase his chances of escaping, and the attacks sparked one of Britain’s longest-running manhunts.

Grant was arrested in 2009, but had been investigated and eliminated from police inquiries back in 1999.

The judge sentencing the former cab driver today said that he remains “a very dangerous man capable of committing heinous crimes” and sentenced him to serve a minimum of 27 years in prison before becoming eligible for parole.

The Guardian quotes the judge saying to Grant:

You targeted elderly victims living alone. Your actions blighted the remaining precious years of their lives. Their homes, where many of them had lived for years, should have been their safest refuge where they could have expected to live their lives undisturbed and at peace.

Police error

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said that a poor response to one of the early burglaries and confusion over a suspect which saw the wrong man’s DNA studied, allowed Grant to remain at large for years.

“It is clear that a simple misunderstanding had horrific consequences,” Deborah Glass of the IPCC said.

Glass said that Grant could have been apprehended 12 years ago.

Although police officially say they believe Grant is responsible for 203 crimes in the south London area, one senior officer said there could be as many as twice that number of victims.

- Additional reporting from the AP