Case Of The Rapist

ANALYSIS OF the crime scene and the actions of sex attackers helped to catch the man responsible for raping a nine-year-old girl and her mother at knifepoint.

William Kenealy, 25, of Northolt, north-west London, was given five life sentences at the Old Bailey last year for the double rape on Boxing Day in 1996 and the rape of a girl agead 17 in Ealing, west London, 10 months later as she walked home from a school concert. In this case Ms Davies worked out that the rapist was a burglar, because the rape was committed in a residential area, which had nothing to draw a typical sex offender to the neighbourhood. The rape seemed almost as if it was a secondary object - he searched for money - so police concluded his first purpose was burglary.

Armed with the profile - a local man who had a conviction for burglary - the police drew up a list of suspects.

William Kenealy was the second person they tested for DNA. He was found to live 300 yards from the crime scene and had convictions for burglary.