Previously unseen footage showing the man wanted for the rape and attempted murder of a woman in Leeds was released today.
The victim, an 18-year-old local woman, was dragged from a bus stop in Beeston and beaten with a stone before being sexually assaulted on 6th March.
This new footage shows the offender walking by Napoleon’s casino, near the University of Leeds’ Tannery halls of residence on Kirkstall Road, just hours before the attack.
At one point in the CCTV footage the man can be seen stooping down, and police say it is possible this could be him arming himself with the stone he used to attack the victim.
Along with the release of this previously unseen footage, West Yorkshire Police have also appealed to the public once again, and have drawn up a list of “five key factors” for people to study, including where the man might live, work and socialise.
Detective Superintendent Nick Wallen, who is leading the investigation, said :
“While we have had a large amount of information from the public as a result of appeals, we have not yet had that crucial call leading to his identity or whereabouts.
“Given the quality of the CCTV images, we think this is relatively unusual and we have asked ourselves what are the factors that would make somebody so apparently invisible to people living and working in the city.
“As part of our ongoing work with specialist offender profilers we have come up with five key factors that we would like people to think about and consider how they could point us towards physical areas or communities where the offender could have links.”
- Given the DNA profile recovered from the victim is not on the UK’s database and has not yet been link to any other on European databases, one possibility is that the offender is a recent arrival to the UK, either legally or illegally.
- His suspected origins or ethnicities are Eastern European, Asian or Middle Eastern.
- He has covered long distances on foot on the night of the offence which suggests he doesn’t have access to a vehicle.
- The route he has taken shows potential links to the Beeston and Burley areas.
- He was blatant in the way he stalked woman in the time leading up to the attack and continued to pursue them even when he had been noticed. The scene of the attack in the front garden of a house on a busy main road also shows this brazen approach to offending. This suggests he is someone who will have behaved towards women in this way before and is likely to continue.
Det Supt Wallen added: “We remain absolutely determined to catch this man and although it is more than two months since the incident our resolve remains as strong as it was on day one.”
Anyone with any information is asked to contact the Homicide and Major Enquiry Team on 01924 334710 or via 101 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Greg Whitaker