DNA on old exhibits found to be similar to man already in jail
DNA from a sex attacker in jail has helped lead police to arrest his brother — who is accused of 20 indecent acts. MAP: Where attacker struck.
NSW
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DNA from a sex attacker already in jail has helped lead police to arrest his brother — who is now accused of 20 indecent acts, including sexual assault, on 12 females as young as 14 over 30 years.
A cold-case review team was looking into a number of historic alleged sex attacks in the Ryde area when DNA on old exhibits was found to be similar to a man, who is in jail on other offences but had an alibi for the alleged incidents.
Yesterday, police arrested his brother, tow truck driver Gregory Richardson, at his Epping home about 7am.
It is one of the rare cases in which police have used familial DNA in an investigation.
While police only took DNA from Richardson after his arrest yesterday, his brother’s DNA was on file from when he was jailed for sex offences — with a search of the database indicating the suspect police were trying to identify was his relative.
Richardson was led from his home in his pyjamas and taken for questioning. Police last night said he would be charged with 20 offences involving 12 victims, in Sydney’s northwestern suburbs between 1989 and 2007.
He is expected to appear in Burwood Local Court today.
Police said cold case investigation detectives had since June been looking into historic sex files in the Ryde area.
It was broadened to include other suburbs in northwest Sydney after a woman came forward in the wake of publicity over the Graham Kay North Shore rapist case, in regard to her own historic attack.
GRAHAM KAY: NORTH SHORE RAPIST TO WEAR TAG FOR TWO MORE YEARS
Her information made police analysts begin to gather reports of attacks and indecent assaults in suburbs as far as Hornsby.
Strike Force Petit then began to review of a number cases, which were previously linked by similarities in the offender’s modus operandi, when the DNA linked four incidents over an 18-year period from 1989 and 2007.
They also reviewed the time and place of the attacks and reinterviewed victims before making yesterday’s arrest. “In June this year Strike Force Petit formed to investigate a number of historical sexual assault matters that occurred around the Cheltenham, Beecroft and Hornsby areas,’’ Sex Crimes Squad head Detective Superintendent John Kerlatec said.
He said the attacks, including acts of indecency and indecent and serious sexual assaults, allegedly targeted females aged 14 to 40 at varying times of the day and night, sometimes near railway stations.
“The investigation included a review of all the material including location, descriptions provided by the victims and some limited forensic examination,” Supt Kerlatec.
“Shortly after the arrest, all the victims were contacted and told of the arrest with mixed emotions. Some were very relieved, some were grateful of the progress and sadly some were very emotional with the arrest reminding them the event that took place.”
Supt Kerlatec said victims were grateful that their reported attack had not been forgotten by police.