‘Night Stalker’ Delroy Grant gets life

Delroy Grant, the man found guilty of the Night Stalker attacks, was given four life sentences a day after his conviction. Judge Peter Rook at Woolwich Crown Court told Grant he was a “very dangerous man capable of committing heinous crimes and causing incalculable harm”.

The 53-year-old was told he will spend a minimum of 27 years behind bars. He has already spent over a year in custody awaiting trial, but the long sentence means that he will be almost 80 when he finally becomes eligible for parole or release.

He attacked his 18 victims, who were all pensioners, in their homes across South London, Kent and Surrey over a period of 17 years between 1992 and November 2009.

The judge told Grant: “Your actions had blighted the remaining precious years of their lives. Their homes, where many of them had lived for years, should have been their safest refuge where they could have expected to live their lives undisturbed and at peace. You chose to invade their homes when they were in their beds at night.”

He added that it was “hard to imagine the extreme fear” that Grant must have engendered in his victims.

Judge Rook said he considered giving Grant a whole-life sentence and noted that his crimes were so serious they were not covered by normal sentencing guidelines. “Your offending is in a league of its own,” he said.

During the sentencing, the court heard moving statements from Grant’s victims and their families about the impact of his crimes.

One 85-year-old woman, referred to as Miss J for legal reasons, bravely entered the witness box to give evidence about how she continues to suffer from her ordeal nearly nine years ago.

She was 77 when Grant burgled and indecently assaulted her at her bungalow in Shirley, Croydon, in October 2002.

In a statement from 2003 she said: “I have found that time is not a great healer. I don’t think it’s got any easier over the last year.

“I certainly haven’t got back my peace of mind. Nobody can guarantee it won’t happen again.

She added: “It’s something I shall never forget completely. It still feels so recent.”

The judge asked if her experiences at Grant’s hands still affected her today. Miss J replied: “If I go out I like to be home before dark. I do a lot of locking and bolting, and taking precautions. … It changed my life.”

She was watched from the dock by Grant, who sat impassively throughout most of the hearing but occasionally shook his head. The judge paid tribute to Miss J’s “courageous” testimony.

He also quoted from the son of another of the sexual predator’s victims, who said: “It has ruined the winter years of my mother’s life, and she has to live with this for the rest of her life.”