Delroy Easton Grant (born 3 September 1957) is a Jamaican convicted serial rapist who committed a series of burglaries, rapes and sexual assaults between October 1992 and May 2009 in South East London in England.
Grant, also known as the Minstead Rapist and later the Night Stalker, is thought to have been active since 1990. He had a distinctive modus operandi, preying primarily on elderly women who lived alone. He is suspected of over 100 offences from 1990 to 2009.London's 'Night Stalker' still prowling. United Press International. 17 June 2009
In 1998, the Metropolitan Police launched Operation Minstead with a dedicated team to investigate the crimes, based at Lewisham police station. By 2005, the operation was the largest and most complex rape investigation ever undertaken by the Metropolitan Police.Jacobson, Philip (30 January 2005). Investigation: Stalker in the suburbs. The Times.
On 24 March 2011, Grant was found guilty of 22 offences. The following day he was given four life sentences and ordered to serve a minimum of 27 years in prison.
Operation Minstead was dramatised in the second series of the British television show Manhunt, based on the memoirs of former Detective Chief Inspector Colin Sutton, first broadcast in 2021.
Emergence of a linked series Grant was an accomplished burglar and had broken into the homes of over 90 women aged between 68 and 93.Man held in 'nightstalker' rapes probe. Press Association. 15 November 2009. He was positively linked to four reported rapes and around 30 other sexual assaults. Police believe he was also responsible for at least another two rapes where the victims felt unable to make any official allegation. The true total may be higher as his victims were often too traumatised to speak to police.
In addition, the Operation Minstead investigation team had to decide which incidents were unmistakably the work of the same offender and which were similar but possibly unrelated. Therefore, many possible Minstead incidents flagged up by police for the attention of the Operation Minstead team could not be definitely confirmed as the work of the same offender, and so had to be excluded from the linked series. The confirmed series of offences began in October 1992 in the Shirley area of Croydon. However, because of a break of four years between this first attack and a spate of others, Operation Minstead was not set up until 1998.
Although committing many crimes, Grant was dormant for long periods. After the first attack in October 1992, no further offences were reported until 1997. After a particularly violent rape on 5 August 1999 where his victim almost died from her injuries, there was another long break. This prompted some media speculation that the rapist had been imprisoned for an unrelated offence or that he had died. On 13 October 2002, ten years after the first attack, he struck again.Cockcroft, Lucy (6 June 2008). 'Night Stalker' rapist attacks three more pensioners. The Telegraph. Seven confirmed attacks took place in the summer of 2003. Another break then followed.
A further series of confirmed attacks took place towards the end of 2008, and into mid-2009.
Detective Superintendent Simon Morgan, who headed the Minstead team from 2001 to October 2009, explained the problems in arriving at a definitive total of offences in this series by saying, "His victims come from a generation who are inclined to see good in everyone. One thanked him for being gentle when he raped her." Another said she did not want to dial 999 "because I know the police are already so busy."
Geographical spread
The offences occurred in defined geographical clusters in and around South East London. Most of the offences occurred around Shirley in Croydon, and in Orpington. However he also struck in Coulsdon, Forest Hill, Catford, Brockley, Bromley, Beckenham, Dulwich and Sidcup. Only once was there a report of his offending outside Greater London. This was in Warlingham, Surrey.Davenport, Justin (23 December 2004). Night stalker strikes again . ThisisLondon.
The fact that many offences had taken place in Orpington, including one on Boxing Day in 1998, led detectives to suspect the rapist had a link to the area. Det Supt Morgan commented, "He either lives, works or has some connection with someone he visits in Orpington. This could be a child, a school or a job". On three occasions, the rapist made remarks about having to get to Brighton."Scarf clue in hunt for Night Stalker". The Evening Standard. 23 October 2006
Modus operandi Grant gained entry to the homes of his victims from the side or the rear, either through open windows or by removing a window pane entirely. He had been known to use tools stolen from the victim's own garden shed to remove the window beading. He ripped out the telephone wires, either before entering the property, or after gaining access. He then disabled the lights either by switching off the electricity at the meter or by removing lightbulbs from their sockets.Fletcher, Martin (21 October 2006). Inside the mind of a rapist who preys on old women. The Times.
He then approached his victim, shining a torch in her eyes. Often his first words were to demand sex. However, he had been known to spend hours in victims' homes either before or without assaulting them. He exhibited a knowledge of geriatrics, knowing how to support his elderly victim's spine and how to pick her up by the elbow. He had sometimes been shamed into leaving without committing a sexual assault when his victim had chastised him. Of particular note is an incident where one victim caused him to apologise and leave by angrily demanding, "What would your mother think of you?" Police have speculated that Grant was ashamed of his actions, perhaps explaining the long period that sometimes occurred between offences. Despite this, he could be extremely violent. During his most violent attack on 5 August 1999, he raped his victim twice and left her bleeding from a perforated bowel, injuries which nearly proved fatal.Boffey, Chris (28 April 2004). Serial rapist's DNA is traced to West Indies. The Daily Telegraph.
Grant had been known to burgle his victims, but this was not his primary motive. He often took money, but only small amounts. He also took credit cards and obtained their PINs. In 2004 he stole a wad of five-pound notes, but these were later discovered thrown away a mile and a half from his victim's house. He had also taken jewellery. The same year he told a victim that his mother had died four years earlier, stating that "the Government let her down anyway".
He struck on all days of the week, but most often during the early hours of a Friday or Saturday morning.
Detectives strongly believed that he rode a motorbike."Now Night Stalker is starting to attack men". The Evening Standard. 10 October 2006.
Suspect description Descriptions from his many victims suggested a black male aged between 25 and 40. He was described as about 5'9" to 5'11" tall, of slim athletic build and tending to wear dark clothing. He was usually wearing gloves, a mask or balaclava, and occasionally a baseball cap. He was also described as having a soft or well-spoken voice. Some of his victims reported a curious sweet smell.
DNA controversy The Minstead Rapist was thought to be forensically aware since he never left a fingerprint at any scene.Ford, Richard; Tendler, Stewart (9 July 2004). . The Times. However, an offence committed on 13 October 2002 left behind a vital clue: a footprint from a size 10 Nike Air Terra Contego trainer. Most importantly he did not use condoms and his DNA was captured. The first time his DNA was discovered at a scene was in 1992. Thereafter, more than 2,000 DNA samples were collected from suspects.Greenwood, Chris (6 November 2009). 2,000 DNA tests in hunt for 'night stalker'. The Independent.
Britain's national police DNA database contains samples from anyone arrested for a recordable offence since 1995. Even by the time of his first offence, the Minstead Rapist was clearly an accomplished burglar. However, his DNA remained unmatched and unidentified on the database. If the rapist had ever been arrested for burglary or a related offence, it would have to have been after 1995, when police began routinely to gather DNA samples from prisoners.
Advanced DNA techniques pointed towards a north Afro-Caribbean ethnic origin for the rapist; probably the Windward Islands: St Lucia, Barbados, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Tobago or Trinidad. Operation Minstead identified around 21,000 possible suspects that fitted such a profile.
In March 2004, Operation Minstead detectives hand-delivered a letter to hundreds of black men in South London, asking for their help in voluntarily providing DNA samples for elimination purposes. Police explained that they desperately needed to reduce the vast number of suspects in the operation and that this was the best way to do so. Volunteers were assured that their DNA samples would be destroyed as soon as they were confirmed to be unmatched with the rapist's DNA. The majority of those potential suspects were eager to help if it would assist police in catching the suspect. However, 125 men initially refused to provide samples believing that the exercise was discriminatory and breached their human rights. Police brought pressure to bear on those who refused, explaining that their behaviour could be construed as suspicious. Five objectors were subsequently arrested but cleared. This incident was seen by some commentators, particularly The Voice newspaper and Liberty, as an abuse of power that damaged relations between London's black community and the police."Swab Squad" The Voice. 29 March 2005 A Liberal Democrat MP, Lynne Featherstone, questioned police tactics in the House of Commons.Operation Minstead. Hansard written answers Although they were able to reduce the list of potential suspects from 21,000 to 1,000, police resigned themselves to being able only to obtain the DNA of certain suspects still on the list if or when they were arrested for an unrelated offence.Metropolitan Police committee report . Metropolitan Police Authority
Arrest and trial According to newspaper reports the suspect was seen by cash machine CCTV cameras using his victims' credit and debit cards but the footage appeared to be useless as his face was always covered by a mask. When viewing some of the footage, one police officer spotted the reflection of a bus in a shop window. The bus was tracked down and was found to be fitted with cameras. Police trawled through the CCTV footage recorded by the bus. On the recording a Vauxhall Zafira was spotted near the cash machine and vehicle records pinpointed all models in the South London area.
On Saturday 14 November 2009, a Zafira was spotted parked in the Shirley area of Croydon, which was already being staked out by 70 police officers following recent break-ins believed to have been carried out by the Night Stalker. An officer saw a suspicious man run towards the car and drive off. The car was stopped and searched. In the boot were a crowbar, spare clothes, gloves and a hat. At the place where it had been parked a police dog followed a scent back to a house which had just been burgled.Arrest in serial sex attack probe. BBC News. 15 November 2009. On 16 November, it was reported that Delroy Grant of Brockley Mews, Brockley, South East London, had been arrested and charged with twenty-two offences, and appeared at Greenwich Magistrates’ Court.Man on serial sex attack charges. BBC News. 16 November 2009. He was remanded in custody to re-appear at the court on 19 November.
On 19 November 2009, Grant appeared at Greenwich Magistrates’ Court, where he was ordered to appear at Woolwich Crown Court on Thursday 26 November. Prosecutors said that further charges were likely. He was remanded in custody.