Three Jailed For Historic Offences
17 February 2012
Successful investigations by the Met's Cold Case Sapphire Team have seen three men jailed already this year for sexual assaults committed up to 25 years ago.
The three men were sentenced to a total of 11 years 6 months years, after being identified following reviews of unsolved rape and attempted rape cases from the 80's and 90's which were able to utilise new opportunities and advances in DNA technology.
"These three individuals were extremely dangerous and predatory"
Two were already serving jail sentences for similar offences when they were identified as the perpetrators of the further incidents.
The most recent conviction saw 51-year-old Charlie Ward sentenced today, Friday 17 February, to 5 years for the rape of a young woman 25 years ago.
Ward was already serving a five year sentence after previously being found guilty of a similar offence which took place two years later, in 1988.
On both occasions Ward was identified following re-investigations into the original incidents by officers from the Cold Case Sapphire Team. DNA samples from both scenes were subjected to further testing following advances in techniques, and on both occasions came back with a match to Ward.
Pensioner Mustafa Hassan, 68 yrs, was jailed on 13 January for five years following a stranger rape more than 16 years ago which saw him lure his victim by bogusly touting himself as a minicab driver in central London.
Also already in jail was 32-year-old Daniel Dolen who was in fact serving a DOUBLE custodial sentence in relation to TWO previous incidents in the 90's following investigations by the Cold Case Team. He was then identified last year as the perpetrator of a third historical offence against a minor.
On this occasion Dolen attempted to rape a 14-year-old girl in Burgess Park, south London. A relative of the victim contacted her following press coverage of Dolen's previous conviction; and she got in touch with police to report the offence.
DC Shirley Lovell, Sapphire Command, said: "These three individuals were extremely dangerous and predatory; using various means to commit offences against complete strangers.
"Achieving these results in a single month highlights the dedicated work carried out by the team to not only pursue and bring to justice those who commit such abhorrent crimes; but to continue those investigations even once a jail sentence is secured.
"Despite the passage of time since these offences were committed, the victims remain extremely traumatised by events and I only hope that these results are able to bring some sense of closure for them.
"Given the fact that two of the three defendants have been convicted of two, and in one case three, offences means it is highly likely they could be responsible for further offences. For this reason we are releasing images of all three in the hope that further victims will come forward. Anyone with information is asked to contact my team on 020 7161 1037."
- Charlie Ward Charlie Ward