Rapist gets 8 years for 1996 alley attack - Alex Matthews jailed after 15 years, following DNA breakthrough

Published: 07 July 2011
by JOSIE HINTON

A RAPIST who evaded justice for 15 years has been jailed after advances in DNA led to his arrest.

Alex Matthews, 45, admitted attacking a young woman as she walked along a Kentish Town street in 1996.

His 20-year-old victim had been enjoying a night out in the West End when she caught a bus to Archway and walked along Fortess Road in search of a taxi to get home.

She was near the junction with Fortess Yard when a hand covered her mouth from behind and a voice said: “Don’t scream or I will kill you.” 

The woman was then dragged down an alleyway where she was raped.

Despite forensic evidence being left at the scene, investigations reached a dead end as detectives were unable to create a DNA profile.

But officers from the Met’s “cold case” squad reopened the investigation last year and were able to link a fingerprint found on a drainpipe at the scene to Matthews.

Forensic checks with other samples collected at the time of the assault revealed a one-in-a-billion chance the print was anyone else’s and Matthews, of Colney Hatch Lane, Muswell Hill, was arrested and charged.

He was this week sentenced to eight years at the Old Bailey on Thursday after pleading guilty to rape and indecent assault.

Detective Constable Shirley Lovell, from the Metropolitan Service’s Cold Case Sapphire Team, said: “This case shows that we can bring offenders to justice even years after an offence thanks to the hard work of officers.”