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24 March 2011
Last updated at 07:48 ET
A man has been found guilty of a series of sex attacks on elderly people in south London.
Dubbed the Night Stalker, Delroy Grant, 53, carried out a series of rapes and sex assaults on 18 victims over 17 years.
Police have apologised for missed chances to stop Grant.
They said he was responsible for some of the most "awful and disturbing crimes" in the history of Scotland Yard.
Commander Simon Foy, head of the Metropolitan Police's homicide and serious crime command, said: "We are deeply sorry for the trauma suffered by all those victims and our failure to bring Grant to justice earlier."
Paperwork blunder The police chief branded Grant a "perverted, callous and violent individual" who attacked some of the most vulnerable people in society.
Grant, of Honor Oak, south London, denied 29 charges, including burglary, rape and sexual assault, between 1992 and 2009, at Woolwich Crown Court.
The court heard the vulnerable victims were targeted in their homes at night.
The attacks took place in Warlingham, Shirley, Beckenham, Bromley, Addiscombe, Orpington and West Dulwich.
Grant was found guilty of raping an 89-year-old woman after breaking into her home in 1992.
He also carried out the brutal sex attack of an 81-year-old woman in Warlingham in 1998.
The jury convicted him of claiming at least 18 victims - but it is feared the total may be more than 500.
The convictions bring to a close a massive manhunt that cost tens of millions of pounds and involved hundreds of officers.
Police officers missed a key chance to stop Grant in 1999 because of a paperwork blunder, it can now be revealed.
He was mistakenly ruled out of a police inquiry when the DNA of another suspect with the same name was confused with his.
Mr Foy added: "He was also feared by many people living in the same communities and it is not too dramatic to say when he was caught, thousands of people in the South East were able to switch out their lights and go to sleep without the dreadful thought they would be preyed upon by Grant."
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Dubbed the Night Stalker, Delroy Grant, 53, carried out a series of rapes and sex assaults on 18 victims over 17 years.
Police have apologised for missed chances to stop Grant.
They said he was responsible for some of the most "awful and disturbing crimes" in the history of Scotland Yard.
Commander Simon Foy, head of the Metropolitan Police's homicide and serious crime command, said: "We are deeply sorry for the trauma suffered by all those victims and our failure to bring Grant to justice earlier."
Paperwork blunder The police chief branded Grant a "perverted, callous and violent individual" who attacked some of the most vulnerable people in society.
Grant, of Honor Oak, south London, denied 29 charges, including burglary, rape and sexual assault, between 1992 and 2009, at Woolwich Crown Court.
The court heard the vulnerable victims were targeted in their homes at night.
The attacks took place in Warlingham, Shirley, Beckenham, Bromley, Addiscombe, Orpington and West Dulwich.
Grant was found guilty of raping an 89-year-old woman after breaking into her home in 1992.
He also carried out the brutal sex attack of an 81-year-old woman in Warlingham in 1998.
The jury convicted him of claiming at least 18 victims - but it is feared the total may be more than 500.
The convictions bring to a close a massive manhunt that cost tens of millions of pounds and involved hundreds of officers.
Police officers missed a key chance to stop Grant in 1999 because of a paperwork blunder, it can now be revealed.
He was mistakenly ruled out of a police inquiry when the DNA of another suspect with the same name was confused with his.
Mr Foy added: "He was also feared by many people living in the same communities and it is not too dramatic to say when he was caught, thousands of people in the South East were able to switch out their lights and go to sleep without the dreadful thought they would be preyed upon by Grant."
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