An Uxbridge man has been jailed for 11 years after he raped a 19-year-old au pair in 1984 after being caught thanks to new DNA technology.
Billy Roy Day, of Cumbrian Way, was found guilty of rape, buggery and indecent assault at Southwark Crown Court on July 28 and was sentenced on Friday (September 2).
The victim had only been in London four six weeks a when she was attacked by Day in Shirehill Lane Park in Hendon.
'The severity of the crime he committed'
Investigating office Detective Constable Gary Farrelly from the Sexual Offences, Exploitation and Child Abuse Command, said: “Day's sentence reflects the severity of the crime he committed – one he thought he had got away with at the time.
“It was highly rewarding to be able to locate the victim and tell her that after all these years the man that had brutally attacked her had been identified and arrested.
“I hope she now takes some comfort in the fact he will spend a considerable time in prison.”
No arrests
On December 7 1984 the young victim had made arrangements to go to the cinema with a friend when she was attacked at around 7.30pm by Day, who suggested to the woman he had a knife.
An early police investigation failed and no arrests were made and the victim returned home to her native country after she was attacked.
Then in 1998, samples were taken from the victim and her her clothing and the police were able to build a DNA profile of the offender, but still no arrests were made.
Breakthrough 30 years on
Finally in 2013 Day's DNA was uploaded into a database and was found to be a match.
He was found to live very close to the park at the time of the attack and he matched the description of the suspect.
Detectives then reinvestigated the case, and with the assistance of Europol they were able to track down the victim in her home country and flew out to her to let her know about the development.
'Immense support to the victim'
Day, now 50-years-old, was interviewed in August 2013 but declined to answer questions, and so was charged with rape and indecent assaulted.
Det Con Farrelly added: “I hope that this case gives other victims of rape and sexual offences the confidence to report crime to the police so that we can investigate, and demonstrates that we are committed to bringing offenders to justice, whatever the passage of time.
“I would like to take this opportunity to again thank police colleagues overseas, who provided immense support to the victim and overall investigation.”
