How young female officers took down the 'Clifton Rapist' in decoy operation | ITV News

[Music] we are most concerned with uh girls who late at night are walking about the streets unaccompanied there was a real sense of fear in the clifton area of bristol we're asking for the freedom to walk the streets after dark the so-called clifton rapist was attacking women there have been numerous sex attacks over the past few months and like many women i try not to walk out at night they were very nasty attacks the imagination couldn't run to what they were actually going through really not knowing if you were going to live or die i think some of them didn't ever recover he's a selfish man he's a pig of a man there was the need for us to do something rather special we were asked if you'd like to volunteer they've got this operation going on doing some decoy work it was a classic honey trap you hoped you'd be the one that you'd catch him i was quite naive no stab vest no protection whatsoever attention everybody this man is on life license for murder and got previous convictions for rape my name is michelle leonard and i was a wpc in avon and somerset in the police women's unit in 1979. so i was nearly 24. we were asked if you'd like to volunteer they've got this operation going on and it'll be working nights doing some decoy work that's it really nothing else there was not a lot of detail given about what it would entail if only michelle had known she had no idea that she was about to join one of the most remarkable covert policing operations in british history the scale of the operation the type of offices involved and how it would culminate in a moment of pure drama makes this story her story extraordinary it was a cold march morning in 1979 when police were closing in on a man who'd been terrorizing these streets and michelle faced a simple choice should she put her own safety first or should she endanger her own life to protect other women in the future [Music] first we need to back up two years it's the summer of 1977 [Music] the golden age of disco britain's on a high in the queen's jubilee year it's a good time to be young [Music] but as women leave the clubs some venture home alone and in the shadows the man is watching [Music] the man first struck in the early hours of july the 16th 1977 off alma road in bristol's clifton district his victim was a woman in her twenties just three days later a teenage girl was assaulted as she walked home from a nightclub these days what this man did to his victims would be classed as rape but not in 1970s england it's horrific but it's it was still only classed as assault sexual assault well you imagine they you know you imagination couldn't run to what they were actually going through really they were life-changing for the victims how some of them i think some of them didn't ever recover to how they used to live beforehand you threatened to kill yeah i don't scream or kill you the survivors described the attacker helping police to produce these photo fit images but after two attacks in three days he vanished they couldn't say well it happens on a friday night or happens at a particular time of the month or something like that you know when the moon's full you know you couldn't work anything like that out so it was rather you know sporadic certainly those attacks it would be two months before the man struck again his third attack was just a few hundred meters from the first two how could detectives catch this man who just appeared in the night subjected young women to life-changing attacks and then disappeared they had none of the tools available to them the detectives have now there was no cctv there was no phone data there was no dna all they had was the basics footprints fingerprints blood types and clothes fibers we wanted to make sure that we captured that very vital piece of fiber maybe that we could link to the offender that we may or may not know at the time it was literally just you know if somebody saw something they got a print out of all the people that were out on licence for offences invite involving violence and sexual assault and it was absolutely um flabbergasting to to see where they worked really like what oh gas engineers you know people who are on license you know going calling on people's homes these were the days before inquiry room computers they used complicated and cumbersome card indexes easy for details to get lost police worked as best they could with the limitations of 1970s technology and again the man disappeared then in the november of 1977 a fourth assault more ferocious than anything before police were desperate they tried something new a television reconstruction to appeal for witnesses did anyone know who this attacker was his fourth victim had been a 21 year old foreign au pair who'd been walking home alone a man who looked like this grabbed her pulled her into this electricity substation where he assaulted her this is a man in this clothing that we're looking for but this is the identi the photofit picture of the actual attacker that we're hoping the public can help us to trace he'd shaved but it was clearly the same man i think the actual rape at redland was the one that turned it because you even had the chief constable on the television on the latest rape he dragged one woman for nearly a hundred yards just how determined is he to to get what he wants well that's an indication that he is determined to get what he wants in spite of the blandishments of the women to leave him alone so he's a selfish man he's a pig of a man i think they were trying to get a profile then but obviously profiling wasn't a thing to do then it's quite old-fashioned policing really well we think he's obviously a young man between 25 and 30 i expect he's single we suspect he may live alone we're trying to build up a picture from what he says and how he behaves he's obviously pretty fit he obviously associates late at night in club land or in licensed premises because he's always out late at night and this attack was just around the corner from redland police station the attacker was becoming as brazen as he was brutal we took it as a almost on a personal frontage that somebody should be coming onto our patch and committing these horrendous crimes on women in my normal policing duties if we ever saw a lady walking on their own in an under area we'd stop the car and we were in a marked police car and we'd say we'll take you home we were desperate to try and apprehend the person that was causing all this we had the um the the university a lot of students on our patch now for the first time students were warned about the attacker they were told to not go out after dark well you really must be careful if you're walking around clifton at night here's the warnings from the information office i think if we do use all the avenues that we possibly can student newspapers uh the tannoy system down here hall meetings where union councils will go to really impress on girls that they shouldn't walk around clifton by themselves there was a strong feeling certainly amongst the uh the ladies who and students and who were in that area that not enough was being done uh when i can i can assure them there was an awful lot going on in the background but when you've got somebody as elusive with that very very difficult to to catch alexandra park and lee and lero those are particularly areas the attacks became a national talking point several attacks over the summer period in the clifton area they had been and always would be overshadowed by the so-called yorkshire ripper who was still at large but the clifton rapist was now drawing campaigners to bristol who highlighted women's vulnerabilities and how poorly the country's rape laws were enforced very obvious for instance with the rape cases recently in clifton you know that the response to the police has been partly to say we should you know women shouldn't go out at night if there's no street lighting that's common sense surely yes but we want street lighting we don't see why we should have to pay for rape all the time the authorities have been coming down on the side of the rapist and have been giving what we call go ahead sentences and also the judges have been making comments which tell me that it's all right to rape in my task force unit and i think others were then deployed to do high visibility policing that may have been why for a period of time there were no attacks good morning to the room so i know me speaking detectives plotted everything they knew now under the gaze of tv cameras but the man now called the clifton rapist went quiet he was almost thumping his nose to us that he could just appear and then disappear for months at a time and then suddenly come back again there was nothing for four months but in march 1978 police took a call from a young woman she'd been driving home in the early hours she was sexually assaulted as she walked from her car to her flat well we're following up a number of leads but i would draw your attention to the latest photo fit which has been prepared and there are a number of similarities in in regard to his face it was him again the same man five attacks in under a year five women whose lives had changed forever another striking description of the man i suspect that that is as vivid in their minds today as it was then and i would put money on the fact that it it will have affected their lives the whole of their lives somehow finding the clifton rapist was now the forces number one priority there's a lot that women can do to help themselves as well as taking the precautions that they've already outlined they can get copies of this book free of charge from the police crime prevention department it's called violent crime and you and inside it contains a number of hints and tips as to what exactly to do if you happen to be a text i wouldn't go out after dark on my own and it would be nice to know that there was somebody to take me back otherwise i won't get out students were outraged the city was in fear and the man behind the efits seemed to have just vanished he was going to attack again he probably would have continued attacking until he got caught it was becoming quite an issue um and there was quite a lot obviously pressure on the police force to catch him then a breakthrough john o'connor the detective constable on the right here was making house-to-house enquiries a man answered the door he looked just like the photo fit so dc o'connor arrested the man and brought him in for questioning i was met by a phalanx of senior officers and he said why have you arrested him and i said something's not right he's living in a false name on a flat that backs onto the scene of one of the attacks he's got one brief his conviction for indecent assault it turned out he was wanted by the police in another area and he was actually hiding under the false name so there was something wrong but it wasn't what we thought it was a false lead police had little more to go on until on december 16th 1978 a foreign student was attacked as she walked home on paris lane in westbury park in the early hours this victim was able to give police a new and potentially crucial piece of evidence her attacker was driving a distinctive car a yellow ford capri and her description of the attacker was similar to the other photo fits she was police believed his sixth victim but then they made another discovery a seventh previously unknown survivor the house house team found her and someone said i think there's a girl downstairs that had a problem she had an attack and they then made inquiries and she said yes it was me but i didn't report it despite the new leads the man who'd struck seven times was still evading capture students women and anti-rape campaigners were furious police hadn't caught their man they took to the streets to show their anger the march passed through the bedsitter area of bristol where there have been numerous sex attacks over the past few months especially the clifton area where up until recently there was intense police activity in the hunt for the so-called clifton rapist like many women i try not to walk out at night we're asking for the freedom to walk the streets after dark without the fear of attack or molestation this is one of the ideas of the national union of students is suggesting for students to help ward off sex attackers it looks innocuous enough but if you push the top this is what happened [Music] rape alarms and safety brochures were no substitute for an arrest the attacker had evaded police for nearly 18 months forensics were poor there was little evidence it was time for a radical rethink next time a desperate force gambles the safety of its youngest newest female recruits in a high-stakes attempt to ensnare the clifton rapist it was a classic honey trap we all wanted to catch him and i think we thought it was exciting he had to physically touch you that feeling that something might happen really intensified and we really thought that he would strike the night that we were doing it over the three months i was involved in 36 arrests it was an extraordinary insight into being a female in our society there was a real sense of fear in the clifton area of bristol there have been numerous sex attacks over the past few months up until recently there was intense police activity we're asking for the freedom to walk the streets after dark we were desperate to try and apprehend the person that was causing all this i would draw your attention to the latest photo fit they were very nasty attacks he probably would have continued attacking until he got caught there was quite a lot of pressure on the police force to catch him he could have murdered somebody we tried overt policing we tried it covert policing there was the need to do something rather special we were asked if you'd like to volunteer if they've got this operation going on and it will be doing some decoy work i was quite naive no protection whatsoever for all of them they would have never have done anything like this before it was groundbreaking really was you hoped you'd be the one that you'd catch him it's january 1979 and in bristol women are terrified candlelit vigils demonstrate the fear and anger women have towards the man who's been stalking the city's streets like many women i try not to walk out at night and i try and use a car where i can of course you're not too wide until it happens to you but i wouldn't go out after dark on my own unless i knew there was going to be someone to take me home over 18 months seven women have been assaulted by a phantom-like figure who's struck at will but who is the rapist behind the efits his last two attacks happened in the space of a week and the police force is desperate we tried overt policing we tried it covert policing and he was still being able to carry out the attacks he was going to attack again he probably would have continued attacking until he got caught he could have murdered somebody there was quite a lot obviously pressure on the police force to catch him police have tried everything almost one last high risk option remains a decoy operation the force would ask its youngest newest least experienced female officers to walk these streets in an attempt to lure the clifton rapist the consequences if it were to go wrong were too terrible to bear those that were in the senior management position at the time had had realized that there was the need for us to do something rather special to to try and draw this person out it was a classic honey trap nearly a dozen women would agree to take part in what would be code named operation argus the operation was so secret that even some police department would be unaware of its existence using female officers as decoys was nothing new in policing but using so many young inexperienced officers in one operation was a calculated gamble it was a risk for the force and it was a risk for the women we're asked if you'd like to volunteer they've got this operation going on and it'll be working nights doing some decoy work we all wanted to catch him and i think we thought it was exciting i don't remember anybody saying no they wouldn't do it because you know our job was to protect life and property as a policewoman and we just thought no that's that's our job to do that we want to catch them we want to be you know part of it policemen were wanted to be seen as a target for this chap if he was you know driving around looking for somebody we wanted it to be us i was quite naive but i was you know hardening up gradually all my friends were doing it all the other policewomen were doing it and i think in those days as well there was this sense of equality um and i didn't want people to think of me as a policewoman that oh she's too frightened to do something like that you know it's equal pay but she she's you know feels too vulnerable to do that i was young in service nine months in service and just enjoying everything that was coming along and it was another thing to do another you know oh yes i'll volunteer despite the enthusiasm of the decoy volunteers senior officers were under no illusions this would be a dangerous assignment this guy had used violence against women so we knew that they were putting themselves forward to the likelihood of being attacked the attacker has threatened to kill his victims now the force is using as the top brass it is most vulnerable officers to try to catch its most violent criminal the wpcs will need some training even though i was only young at the time i i knew that it was something special that was happening chris gould was a young police constable on probation i did a lot of martial arts in those days i ended up being asked to do some self-defense training the victims had given police detailed descriptions of the way they'd been attacked it was effectively an attack from behind like a rear-handed attack around the throat we were shown how to get somebody's hands um from off round our necks um but i mean we weren't you know it wasn't like a six-month course in training detectives had to analyze maps of where the attacks had happened while none of the assaults had been on white ladies road each of the victims had either walked or driven along it beforehand the man had struck as they turned onto the darkened side streets the attacker had clearly been staking out the route himself perhaps from the yellow fall capri that was seen in his final assault and these were the routes the young police officers would walk bait for the rapist [Music] the plan was to get out the car walk up the road turn off into the dark area of clifton to see what see if anything happened basically to see if this attacker attacked you if if it would happen but the only stipulation they did say if you could call it off any time you wanted to if you felt unsafe but if you did go through with it he had to physically touch you to be arrested i was dressed in jeans a duffle coat and a scarf i wanted to look like i was a student walking home from a late night basically i had a radio the size of a brick and a piece coming out of it but being rendered uh clifton as it was then um the radio mast wasn't very good and quite often the radio would cut out anyway john le carrier stuff isn't it the the classic spy honey trap isn't it the technique has probably been around for a long time in various different forms but you've got to very very careful that you don't cross the line into entrapment very careful that is that's always been the case because that would just be thrown out as like you've enticed this person to do this and they weren't going to do it until you entice them the operation started on a january night in 1979 steph bearden michelle leonard and sally defazio were just three of the 10 decoys every night two women at a shift would walk this route but they weren't alone they were surrounded by a small army of observation officers you suddenly think they're my responsibility i'm the one in charge of this unit that's now looking after these and there's no way we're going to let them get hurt in any way shape or form they were placed in people's gardens and along the route you always been watched i would have been probably in an overt position and as soon as i heard they were coming anywhere near me then i would put myself into a covert position i knew they were there if they wanted to they could reach out and actually touch me as i walked past if they wanted to so i knew they were there and one one did remark he said i could hear you breathing as you walk past so that's how close they were well you could hear where they were at any particular time and of course as that person passed your particular spot you would say that the subject's gone past where i am and somebody was had a little map probably and was working out where exactly they were at any particular time i do remember once it had started thinking you know it was quite scary in things but other times it was completely routine and nothing happened and i guess you know we were lulled into a false sense of security i remember on one of the walks um the milk bottles rattling being knocked over and thinking oh you know is this it and then a little hedge jumping up or appearing saying sorry it's us as in it's the the task force and they step back into the milk bottles and knock them over part of what you're doing is watching the female operative for her safety but the second eye is effectively watching everything else like the vehicles that are driving past that may be slowing down that somebody may be wolf whistling at the individual or looking out of a window or shouting at them or walking past them or turning around and looking back at them if a man's walked towards them you felt your heart beat up a bit because you thought is this going to be it that feeling that something might happen really intensified it was quite easy to sort of merge in with those people because you know they were your ages you were dressed like them um the only difference was is that you know we had the the microphones on us and and we were being watched whereas they weren't so really in a way we were safer than they were there were always people about on white ladies road but turned down the side roads and they were lots of them were tree-lined they were dark yeah shadows shadows basement flats with you know places you could hide the use of of the ground and the topography that you've got there and the the gardens and the shadows and the cars and all that are all techniques that you've picked up and you know how to disappear very quickly what kept most people awake alert and active was the very fact that this was real and could could happen and would happen on your shift and i think you know you believed that it would so you remained alert and active and we really thought that you know there was a chance that you know we would we'd um you know he would strike the night that we were we're doing it you hoped you'd be the one you know that you'd catch him it doesn't matter how you wrap this up and you think that there were all these police officers watching the fact of the matter is is that under attack they're on their own so you've got to be pretty brave to put yourself in that position very vulnerable very brave and you know it must have been on the back of their minds all the time because you know whilst every possible um you know precaution can be put in place there is always risk no stab vest no protection whatsoever in our own clothes radios that you know you couldn't hear you couldn't you could barely understand what was being garbled i always thought that if he did come after me i could i could run out of his reach the operation had been running for weeks the decoys and their observation teams have been out most nights but the clifton rapist seemed to have just vanished it was starting to feel like a fruitless exercise commanders had one last trick up their sleeves it was in equal measure both audacious and desperate after a month or so they decided to dress up a couple of policemen as women physically they're going to be stronger and if they did get somebody who was a bit you know try tried it on or whatever they could handle themselves so they were trying something different i think i was a slight build small in terms of stature so it was a sort of perfect fit suddenly there's chris gould and robbie jones and they said can you bring some makeup in with you we want you to make them up so as the shift started we would put their makeup on for them it would take me at least two hours to get dressed at least two hours with the makeup and i'm not exaggerating it was it was a big thing to do over the three months i was involved in 36 arrests it was an extraordinary insight into being a female in our society the constant fear of being on the street on your own and there was fear on the streets the torch lit vigils continued campaigners oblivious to the police's covert operation but although operation argus had arrested many men for other offences the clifton rapist still evaded officers money and patience were running out it must have cost a fortune this obviously isn't going to isn't going to work so those in charge obviously we're thinking it's time to pull it police officers had been innovative they've been brave they'd put their lives on the line but they had failed in their prime objective after months the clifton rapist was still elusive he was still free to attack next time so as he went past i then recognized the identique that heightens your senses attention is on this man is on life license for murder got previous convictions for rape the guy was walking behind her he's quickening his staff he's getting closer he's getting closer the police obviously are sparing no efforts to try to catch the men or men responsible for at least eight sex attacks in clifton since spring of last year they were very nasty attacks he was going to attack again he probably would have continued attacking until he got caught there was quite a lot obviously pressure on the police force to catch him we were desperate to try and apprehend the person that was causing all this i would draw your attention to the latest photo fit which has been prepared he could have murdered somebody we tried overt policing we tried it covert policing there was the need for us to do something rather special we were asked if we'd like to volunteer they've got this operation going on i always thought that if he did come after me i could i could run out of his reach it must have cost a fortune as the days went by you started to feel this blighter's not here he's not taking the bait those in charge obviously were thinking it's time to pull it for 10 weeks in 1979 bristol police had been coordinating operation argus running young female decoy operatives to try to catch the clifton rapist who'd been terrorizing the city this is the photofit picture of the actual attacker but the attacker had gone to ground he'd neither attacked the female officers nor any other women in bristol the operation was running as we wanted it to but clearly as time went on and as the days went by you started to feel this blighter's not here he's not taking the bait we weren't getting the results yeah i think i did know that at the time and i thought this obviously isn't gonna isn't gonna work so those in charge obviously we're thinking it's time to pull it operation argus was expensive every night there were two decoys at least 10 observation officers back up in vans and further support via radio link in the office but the clifton rapist hadn't appeared once this couldn't go on well it was huge vampire and most of those hours were overtime it must have cost a fortune to make matters worse the 1970s state-of-the-art technical equipment was failing the radios didn't work one night so everybody came out with the bushes and so is your radio working is your radio working comms was always an issue then you know it was very basic stuff unfortunately somebody pulled the plug out by accident so with everything seemingly going wrong the decoys knew their time was nearly up on march the 22nd 1979 the curtain was to close on operation argus this was to be the last chance one final night it's quite cold i was just dropped off at the bottom of st paul's road at the traffic lights the team would focus again on the dark streets around white ladies roads in the clifton and redland areas of bristol where the attacks had all taken place on this last run i it's still very clear in my mind michelle got out the car walked away from the car and as she walked away from the car i still see it now poor capri came round the corner from white ladies road into some pauls road and the driver immediately slowed and i saw him look towards michelle so i'm walking up white ladies road on my own and how i didn't i didn't see him at all as he went past i could see that this guy fitted the identicator he looked just like the attacker he looked like the man just like he he did a u-turn behind our car and then pulled in literally a few yards in front of us so i could then get his number plate michelle then turned left he drove to the traffic lights and turned left i thought this this is him we've got him we've got a number plate i'd radioed that in and that's when i was told somebody's paying attention to me it was like oh there's a car interested in michelle i could see her way up ahead and i then whip around the back i was so concerned in my own mind we had to get this guy i could hear the handover and by now the cid officers could also see the car and they were watching him and they were saying he's slowing down he's slowing down and i heard them say he's pulled up he's got out the car he's following michelle on foot so i carried on walking and then i could have said there and then no i don't want to do this anymore we had a radio message back to say that the vehicle was registered to a man called evans who was out on life license for murder and rape once i had said attention this money's on life license for murder got people's convictions for rape then i was i was fight you know i was that puts your uh your sense it heightens your senses and without a doubt everybody was on tender hooks he's now out of the car and running after her i thought oh oh okay keep walking keep walking your blood pressure goes up a little bit then because you suddenly think is this him have we now is he going to attack we need the evidence to arrest him he might look like the identicate but we don't know yet the guy was walking behind her he's quickening his step he's getting closer he's getting closer so as the the the sort of tension was building and building and building i could hear him and whilst i i could hear his footsteps i thought that's all right he's behind me he's behind me and i carried on walking and then i couldn't hear him anymore to actually be walking knowing that you've got a killer on on your um on your track behind you i mean it doesn't get any more real and any more scary than that i thought all i had in my mind is i've got to get under a street lamp get under a street light so they can you can be seen incredibly brave person to know that you probably had somebody who was likely to cause an attack i stopped another street light turn round and there he was behind me and i thought that's him that's a photo fit that is identical to him and i thought what's going to happen now things happen so quickly but actually when you reflect they are rather slow he then was staring straight past me and i thought oh he's not interested you know he's going to walk straight on he then grabbed me from behind around the throat round the arm a waist and said don't scream i'll kill you and start to pull me backwards i saw him bundle her into the into the alleyway and then she was lost to sight that image will stay with me his face will stay with me forever i can turn look over my shoulder and see him even after 40 odd years and then i heard my officers say he's on her he's attacked her and he hit me as he hit me to run away sort of pushed me out the way hit me in the face and i i said don't don't let him get away don't let him get away there was that moment where there wasn't anybody else there except me and because michelle was still in the garden there probably coping trying to cope with what had just happened and literally he ran right at me and i did one of those sort of grabbed rugby tackles on him and we landed in the middle of the road and then the next message was we've got him he's on the floor and calvin drove his car down and he skidded to a halt and he must have stopped about an inch from my head i literally was under the wheels of the car and i thought i thought i was going to get run over there was a feeling of elation but then a feeling of let's deal with this properly we've got a if we've got the right man we've got to make sure we've got all the evidence right uh that everybody can recount now exactly what they've done over the last half an hour to ensure that the evidence is going to be right it was just the elation that we'd actually got somebody attacking uh you know tragically attacking michelle and that michelle was safe and well because you know she was she must have been traumatized by that incident there was no how do you feel about this afterwards or i think you should have some counselling there's nothing there was no such thing as that i think we all wondered you know wanted to know the story wanted to know that all the details about it and how who it was and which one of us it was and and how they got him and who he was we had a copy of the identique with us they had him face down on the floor when they turned him over i thought we've got you in these early stages they had just his name and criminal record ronald evans convicted murderer but who actually was this man who'd attacked seven women in nearly two years who'd struck fear into bristol and who'd prompted this groundbreaking covert operation evans was a 38 year old electrician who lived on the outskirts of bristol he was married he was a family man in 1963 evans had raped and murdered a 21 year old kathleen heathcote in nottinghamshire evans had been sentenced to life in prison but in 1975 he'd been released on life license you would be working in um somewhere down at avermouth with a bunch of blokes he had a wife and occasionally he would want to go out and attack a woman a few of evans's friends here knew about his past that he'd killed a woman years before he'd been sentenced to life in prison he'd served 11 years and he'd been moved to an open prison near bristol and he'd made the city his home when he'd been released he was released on so-called life license now that meant he had to live by certain conditions instead he used his newfound freedom to attack women to become the clifton rapist people are allowed allowed out on on parole and the assumption is that the parole board have made the right decision to allow them out clearly on this at this occasion this particular individual was intent on carrying out to commit similar crimes when you found out he was a murderer and when he found out what he had done to a woman back in 1963 it was a shock it was shocking yeah it was a total shock and how he could have moved without it without us knowing about him that was the biggest letdown i suppose biggest shock and that is a failing i think of of the system and it was a failure for all those women who got attacked because it could have been avoided you can't make this up it's scary to think that we were that close to a killer and potentially the risks were extraordinarily high and you know michelle was an extraordinary brave person as were the other policewomen that put themselves out there it's just extraordinarily brave when he actually he was caught we were all just so relieved and just so so glad that we'd done it and it all been worthwhile in 1979 here at bristol crown court ronald evans pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual assault the two more serious attacks on grove road and paris lane were dropped evans was sentenced to nine years in prison and his life licence was revoked and it was only now with the judge's commendation that journalists heard about the top secret operation argus each of the decoys received a chief constables commendation michelle received a queen's commendation for bravery so now you've got the queen's commendation how do you feel about that very surprised because i didn't know anything about it until yesterday it was all in the papers and my picture was taken and it was a lot of press and i was interviewed and i lasted a few days and then back to work and when i walked up at south meade oh that's that that's our policewoman and it was quite nice actually looking back on it yeah i'm really really proud of what we did but i wouldn't do it again ronald evans returned to prison but there was unfinished business two of his victims hadn't seen justice next time a cold case team links ronald evans to the two unsolved attacks from the 1970s it was decided that we needed to review any stranger rape events to see whether or not forensic science could be used to identify offenders ronald evans back in the 70s when he went to court thought that he'd got away with those offences he wasn't charged and convicted of with the advent of dna his past caught up with him there was a real sense of fear in the clifton area of bristol we're asking for the freedom to walk the streets after dark there have been numerous sex attacks over the past few months i try not to walk out at night they were very nasty attacks there was the need for us to do something rather special we were asked if you'd like to volunteer doing some decoy work it's scary to think that we were that close to a killer but the police eventually got their man and ronald evans was jailed in 1979. ronald evans back in the 70s when he went to court thought that he'd got away with those offences he wasn't charged and convicted of for two of his victims a quarter of a century had passed and they hadn't seen justice i can still see his face they must be feeling the same way reliving that terror we needed to review any stranger rape events to see whether or not forensic science could be used to identify offenders with the advent of dna his past caught up with him for 25 years ronald evans the clifton rapist has been growing old in prison but now it's 2004 and the 63 year old is weeks away from release freedom is within his grasp in the late 1970s seven women were attacked during ronald evans's reign of terror but when he was caught he admitted only five what about those other attacks was another rapist at large or was ronald evans responsible for these two so my name is gary mason i was asked to set up the aim of sunset cold case team it was decided that we needed to review any stranger rape events to see whether or not forensic science could be used to identify offenders so the first thing i had to do was identify well how many offenses are we talking about surprisingly we were talking a couple thousand defenses near the top of the pile of unsolved cases was the grove road rape from november 1977. the victim was a 21 year old foreign au pair the file left by detectives at the time included a laboratory report and scientists now told gary mason that the victim's clothes have been kept in storage preserved perfectly for 25 years it was about five six weeks later they said remember that case grove road you asked us to look at we've got full dna profile from it so of course i'm getting very excited and they say but not only that we've loaded it on the dna database and it's come back with a match we know whose dna it is so i said well i got my pen in my hand and they gave me the name of ronald evans and whatnot what did that name mean to you then meant absolutely nothing to me and i think probably because i didn't respond when they gave me their name they said you do realize who that is well i've said no thinking it's not someone famous or something is it and they said blaster clifton rapist there have been numerous sex attacks over the past few months there was a real sense of fear in the clifton area of bristol we're asking for the freedom to walk the streets after dark this is the photofit picture of the actual attacker the police investigation in the 1970s had caught and convicted evans for five attacks but he denied the grove road rape and detectives had never really been convinced he was the offender now modern science said it had to have been him my name is rob callaway in 2004 i was a detective constable on the even the somerset mage crime team i think that ronald evans back in the 70s when he went to court thought that he'd got away with those offenses he wasn't charged and convicted of and really his past caught up with him with the advent of dna but there was a second unsolved case from paris lane in december 1978 a student who'd moved from europe was attacked as she walked home this had been classed as an attempted rape gary mason found this paperwork in files about ronald evans's solved crimes it had sat forgotten in a storeroom in the attic of this police station but the files had more i found a brain a4 envelope and in it was a plastic bag and in that plastic bag was about 10 plastic tubes which each contained swabs for sexual offences they were sealed and i looked at the name on the outside and it was my victim that i just had a dna hit from dna hits and links in the paperwork evidence left by ronald evans more than two decades earlier could now be used against him but where was he and had he changed we didn't know for sure he was still in prison at that point the first thing that shocked me was they said oh he's about to be released into an open present because we're in the process of him being released out into the public again actually he was coming up for a review of whether he should be out on parole we had a bit of a clock ticking situation so i said well what do i have to do to stop him going to an open prison i need to speak to him about a couple sexual assaults what did you think when you heard that he was just about to bring you release but hang on here's a chance that actually he might well be staying staying back in great i thought it was good he would it you know at last just as justice will be done the cold case team drove to the prison in devon there they arrested an unsuspecting ronald evans who was preparing for release when i met him he was thin balding wearing glasses he didn't look much of a threat and and he was very personal when we met him as well when i introduced myself and told him what i was there for he was very very shocked and initially he thought that it was a deliberate employee on our part because he knew he was coming up for a review of parole but it wasn't a ploy by the police the cold case team had firm evidence linking evans to the two unsolved attacks he was going back to court when police charged evans for these historic attacks there was a renewed interest from the press ronald evans a 63 year old former electrician was told he faced a count of rape attempted rape and four counts of indecent assault which are alleged to have taken place in bristol bespectacled and wearing a padded jacket and i was in court as evans made his first appearance this case was heard before bristol magistrates in court number one and it lasted just two minutes ronald evans spoke only to confirm his name and address and the case was adjourned for a hearing before bristol crown court next tuesday he was returned to prison after the third day after we charged him and then it was a case of preparing the files both ladies agreed to come to bristol and both provided me with some very very detailed victim impact statements it was an overseas student who was working over here and they had to get her back up that she came back to england 25 years later generally an impact statement you may have had a few months or even a year for the victim to come to terms with what happened and put in on paper how it affected them but with both these ladies we're talking about over 20 years experience so it was almost like a life study on how it affected them [Music] michelle leonard had been part of the police team that caught evans she'd been prepared as much as possible for his attack but when he struck it was still traumatizing what must it have been like for those unsuspecting victims when i recall what i was doing he grabbed me from behind and the throat ran the arm a waist and said don't scream i'll kill you and start to pull me backwards and i can still see his face now as i did then they must be feeling the same way reliving that terror how they can possibly completely forget about it i don't know the trial was set for december 2004. evans was now admitting the grove road attack but was denying the paris lane one it's the first time i've seen him in 25 years so that poor woman had to come to england to give evidence of 25 years ago of a horrific incident what had happened to her when the ladies told us that she wouldn't wear high heels ever since that incident just so if she had a necessity to run she could do so she never from that day onwards traveled abroad she didn't like traveling on her own she didn't travel very far from her hometown [Music] whenever she used to go out for a walk she would always walk towards the middle of the road so no one could jump out from bushes they were unable to have uh such close relationships as they would like to um so the issues of trust to be fair to her she did travel to come to england i thought that was so brave of her on the morning of his trial ronald evans stood in the dock here at bristol crown court and was asked how he would plead and he replied with one word twice guilty in the moments after those harrowing victim impact statements were read to the court sitting in the public gallery watching on listening in was one of his other victims now she'd seen justice 25 years earlier but she hadn't seen her attacker since then and the impact of what he did to her back in 1978 was clear to those sitting next to her i held her hand because she was shaking so much and she said i said sure you're right do you want to go she said no i want to stay she said but her words were i thought i was over this man but i'm obviously not and i thought you know the impact that what he did to her 25 years ago is still with her and she still hasn't got over what happened to her and it's it's a life sentence for the victim as well as and he should have a life sentence i think really in 1979 evans was convicted of five assaults near white ladies road in clifton in bristol now in 2005 he was convicted of rape he was going back to prison i had no doubt at the time we dealt with him that he was still a danger to women when he got sentenced to another 10 years i was quite happy and his life license was revoked again so i knew he was going back to prison for a long time thought that in his 60s he could still be a risk to females i thought that maybe going back to prison for a significant amount of time was the right thing to keep him out of harm's way but this story doesn't end there because on a cold day in january 2019 an old man on a walking stick shuffled out of jail ronald evans had spent a total of 57 of his 79 years behind bars he was britain's longest serving prisoner and despite convictions for murder rape and sexual assault a parole board deemed him fit for release an injunction prevents him from returning to bristol the city he terrorized back in the 1970s i suppose i'm horrified really last time i knew him in 2003-4 he was still a danger to the public as far as i was concerned well i hope now that he is no longer a risk to members of the public and i hope that he understands why he's here so long i think they'll always have that something in them that makes them um be able to do that sort of thing i i don't think that ever goes he's 81 he's not as far as we're aware committed another offense he's uh he served his punishment but i feel sorry for the women that were attacked who quite clearly are probably still affected in some way or other by his attacks i don't know how somebody has managed to convince everybody that he is now safe but he would have gone through a parole board hearing and um they've obviously decided that he he is in their wisdom safe to be within the community [Music] while the cold case team had finally secured convictions for evans old attacks it was operation argus with its covert policing unreliable radios and brave decoy officers that originally brought evans to book it was completely unique a bizarre thing to do very forward thinking really of its time and i just think yeah it was a good job well done the operation helped other people realize around the country that you know this this can be done and it does actually work we were very lucky all of us not to become a victim i always think if i'd have been a hundred meters away in a car with the police women and he'd never seen them what would he have done that night was there a chance another woman could have been attacked if he had to have been caught i think he would have murdered again i think he would have probably got more somebody would have resisted eventually i've been in many many scrapes but that one moment in my life has has set set me off on on the career that i took done surveillance for drugs and other things but nothing has ever compared to that it was brilliant the operation to catch the clifton rapist changed the secret face of covert policing in the late 1970s but what you might ask has changed over the last 40 years about women's safety police today have tools and techniques that detectives back then could only have dreamt of but has anything really got any better there's women being attacked still we've got better education we're supposed to be more civilized aren't we so why is it that why do men have this need to attack women or abuse women that's a bigger picture really [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you

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Published: Wed Aug 10 2022