IMAGINE suffering the anguish of rape without knowing the identity of your attacker or ever seeing him brought to justice.

Picture having to look over your shoulder for the rest of your life, to wonder all the time if that same lowlife is the man who served you in the shop or the stranger watching you from across the street or the ominous source of the footsteps behind you on a dark night.

Imagine, worst of all, not being believed for years, possibly decades, doubted perhaps even by your own family and friends.

Can there be any place more lonely, more bleak, more wretched? Sadly for too many victims - women and men - they do not have to imagine it. They live it every day.

They may as well run from their own shadow as from the memory of that attack.

They must put together, as best they can, the broken pieces of their lives.

But things are changing for the better for victims in Worcestershire and across the West Mercia and Warwickshire police force areas.

There are practical, transformative ways to show those victims that they have not been forgotten and that the hunt for their attackers is still very much alive.

Detective sergeant Sharon Avery is overseeing Operation Scenic in West Mercia and Warwickshire, a review of forensic evidence in historic sexual offence investigations.

The operation, launched in February last year (2014), has already brought to justice two 'stranger rapists' (see panel) in Worcestershire many years after they committed their sickening crimes.

Carefully, methodically, police are going through the files of cold cases, unsolved rapes and sexual assaults, dating back to 1976.

Forces, including West Mercia, are forging partnerships with LGC, the UK's largest forensic provider, following the demise of the Forensic Science Service.

Advances in DNA technology mean that samples of bodily fluids - blood, semen, saliva - from the past can be analysed and a genetic profile drawn up.

There are 1,700 of these detected and unsolved sexual offence cases (the focus at the moment) dating back to 1976 in West Mercia and Warwickshire.

The theory is that detected cases may be linked to unsolved cold cases and could form a relevant part of any investigation. A unique database has been developed to help with this.

DS Avery said: "It is only right that we give victims that were victims prior to the development of this science the same benefits of today's knowledge and technology."

However, this is not merely about DNA. There is also a a healthy dose of good old-fashioned detective work, looking over paper files, examining the modus operandi of sex attackers, descriptions given at the time, looking again at suspects who were in the frame but the technology was not sophisticated enough to secure a conviction.

The public is also vital. Can they give names to the police for example?

DNA testing can very quickly rule out or rule in any potential suspects, especially as techniques become increasingly refined, sophisticated and accurate.

DNA analysis only began in 1988 with the conviction of murder and rapist Colin Pitchfork, the first person ever convicted of a crime based on DNA fingerprinting evidence.

But DS Avery's predecessors had the foresight to store samples from a time before such DNA analysis was possible.

Sometimes officers may have a full genetic profile of a sex attacker but no name.

That is when the public and intelligence work can be a vital next step.

The DNA database has only been running since 1995 and it is those cases from before this date which are yielding results as there are samples which have previously not been submitted for analysis.

DS Avery said: "There are people out there who should be worried. We need names from the public."

One of the main advantages of cold case analysis is that justice is served but also that victims are able to gain closure.

"From the victim's perspective they're often quite shocked that we're coming back to see them after all these years.

"But it is reassuring for them to know they weren't forgotten and that we continue to review cases with the aim of identifying offenders.

"For example I saw a victim yesterday and there was an immense amount of gratitude that they weren't forgotten."

She said many victims of undetected sexual offences needed to show that it did happen and to be believed.

Specialist officers are employed to talk to victims in cold cases and ensure that support is given to them throughout.

DS Avery said: "We do get cases where people aren't believed by their own families."

Sexual offences can often have a lasting impact on the personal lives, relationships and careers of victims which can only be gauged years after the attack.

"If they don't know who the offender was they're always thinking 'is that them?' They may walk past them in the street without knowing. You can imagine how that could affect somebody. You could be seeing them in the shop all the time.

"While they're still unidentified the victim is always wondering, 'do I know them, have they seen me, do they know me?' Over the years they become a bigger and bigger beast.

"But when they see them in court they're not that big beast. They're smaller."

This was certainly the experience of Tom Leavesley, now 32, formerly of Diglis, Worcester, who was abused by Alan Page in Stourport when when he was a boy of 12 between July 1 and October 1, 1996.

Page, then 55, of Burcher Green, Kidderminster, was sentenced to five years in prison last December (2014) after he was found guilty of five indecent assaults.

Mr Leavesley who faced the man who abused him in court nearly 20 years after the offences were committed said he saw Page as 'pathetic' and 'selfish', stealing his childhood.

Since Page was jailed Mr Leavesley has raised thousands for Survivors Manchester which provided a lifeline for him when he was at his lowest ebb and which has now made him its UK ambassador.

Although the focus is now on serious sexual offences DS Avery hopes they can expand to look at other offences, such as violent assaults and robberies. The potential for successful DNA analysis on serious sexual offences is high which is why it had been the focus so far.

Around 50 cold cases are now subject to live investigations and they are being prioritised based on a number of factors, including the likelihood of conviction and the strength of DNA and other evidence.

DS Avery said: "It is a great opportunity for people to come forward and say I have got some information that could assist.

"We literally leave no stone unturned. If there is any opportunity we have explored it. We have gone as far as we possibly can."

 

Case studies

 

TWO stranger rapists who terrorised women in Worcestershire have been jailed thanks to advances in DNA technology many years after they committed their terrible offences.

David John Woodings was sentenced to life in prison 23 years after he raped and robbed a horrified mum in her own home.

The 59-year-old, of Summerfield Gardens, Evesham, was jailed for 15 years in May, nearly 24 years after he raped and robbed a horrified mum in July, 1991.

The victim was in the house with her eight month old baby in an isolated rural property in Bromsgrove when she was subjected to a prolonged and degrading sexual assault.

Advances in DNA technology meant he could be identified even after the victim had given up all hope of him ever being caught.

Professional burglar Steven Hearl, now a balding and bespectacled 63-year-old, was sentenced to six years and four months at Worcester Crown Court for the sex attack he carried out in an Alvechurch cornfield when he was 35 and she was 16.

The ordeal was made worse for the victim by what the judge in the case called 'doubters and cynics' who did not believe her.

Hearl, who had a long list of convictions for theft offences, was caught in July when a "cold case" review matched his DNA and he confessed to rape, indecent assault and attempted buggery.

In a letter read to the court, he said what he had done was "disgusting and wicked" and he hoped his conviction and sentence would allow the woman to move on with her life.

Paul Whitfield, prosecuting, said the 30 minute ordeal on the evening of June 26, 1987, had affected her whole life.

Hearl was in the area looking for houses to burgle and grabbed her as she walked home from a day out in Redditch town centre.

He pushed her through a hedge into a cornfield, blindfolding her with her own clothing, sexually assaulted her and raped her while she shouted at him to stop.

He then lay alongside her and told her not to move for thirty minutes so he could make his escape.

Rumours in the town and the fear that she might come across the stranger - whose face she had not seen - forced her to leave the area.

Hearl was given six years and four months for rape.

He was given three-and -half years for both attempted buggery and indecent assault and two years for the second indecent assault, all to run concurrently. He was ordered to register as a sex offender for life.

 

The evolution of DNA profiling

 

 * DNA profiling began in 1987 but you needed a large amount of genetic material (about the size of a 50p piece) to work with it successfully.

* Before DNA was analysed the ABO blood group system was used which was useful for ruling some people in or out of enquiries but lacked the sophistication and accuracy of genetic profiling.

* An advance in DNA profiling came in 1991 with a process called 'polymerase chain reaction' or PCR for short. The technique has been described in terms of a 'biological photocopier' which allows scientists to amplify DNA samples. It allowed scientists to develop DNA profiles based on a smaller amount of starting material.

* In 1995 a system was developed whereby DNA profiles could be stored in numeric form in a DNA database. The database is run entirely by the Home Office.

* In 2014 the chemistry of DNA investigation was improved, allowing scientists to get data from more degraded samples. DNA 17 provided a more refined and complicated means of profiling, looking at 16 markers and the sex marker. The number of markers has gradually increased from six in 1995 to 10 in 1999 to 17 in 2014.

* Even for crimes dating back to the 70s, 80s and 90s, samples were stored and catalogued e.g. microscope slides and taping. It is possible to construct a DNA profile from many of these samples in the forensic archive in Birmingham.

* Cold case specialist Cathy Turner, made an Order of the British Empire for her work, said: "We are scientists and we are impartial but we are also human as well. We do get satisfaction in the ability to get a profile for an investigation."

The oldest case she has worked on was a murder from 1947 and another from 1951.

 

Support

 

All victims of rape and sexual assaults have access to Independent Sexual Violence Advisors (ISVAs) and Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs) who offer support and guidance throughout and after the investigation. They will also be supported by specially trained officers who will work to get the right result for them and with their wishes in mind.

A victim of rape or a sexual assault can get help and support even if they don’t want to come to police by self referring to a Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC). For information and details on how to contact or refer yourself to a SARC please visit the Get help page of the Stop Rape Now website http://stoprapenow.co.uk/1904 The Glade offers a service to men, women and children who have experienced rape or sexual assault in the Shropshire, Telford, Herefordshire and Worcestershire areas.

The 24-hour self-referral number is 0808 178 2058 and the website is www.theglade.org.uk