Delroy Easton Grant (born 3 September 1957) is a Jamaican-born British convicted serial rapist who carried out a series of offences of burglary, rape and sexual assault between October 1992 and May 2009 in the South East London area of England.
[5] Operation Minstead was dramatised in the second series of the British TV show Manhunt, based on the memoirs of former Detective Chief Inspector Colin Sutton and was first shown in 2021.
Police believe he was also responsible for at least another two rapes where the victims felt unable to make any official allegation.
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.
[9] 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.
However he also struck in Coulsdon, Forest Hill, Catford, Brockley, Bromley, Beckenham, Dulwich and Sidcup.
[11] 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.
He exhibited a knowledge of geriatrics, knowing how to support his elderly victim's spine and how to pick her up by the elbow.
"[3][13] Police have speculated that Grant was ashamed of his actions, perhaps explaining the long period that sometimes occurred between offences.
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.
[13] 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.
[16] However, an offence committed on 13 October 2002 left behind a vital clue: a footprint from a size 10 Nike Air Terra Contego trainer.
If the rapist had ever been arrested for burglary or a related offence, it would have to have been before 1995, when police began routinely to gather DNA samples from prisoners.
[10] 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.
However, 125 men initially refused to provide samples believing that the exercise was discriminatory and breached their human rights.
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.
[18] A Liberal Democrat MP, Lynne Featherstone, questioned police tactics in the House of Commons.
[20] 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.
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.
He was remanded in custody, next due to appear at the Old Bailey for a plea and case management hearing on 8 February 2010.