Night Stalker kissed rape victim goodbye and mocked police in 17-year reign of terror on frail pensioners

NIGHT stalker Delory Grant kissed one of his rape victims goodbye and mocked cops in a brutal 17-year reign of terror against the elderly.

The monster left police stumped as he evaded capture for almost two decades – striking fear into the hearts of Londoners terrified they would become his next victim.

Grant is feared to have sexually assaulted more than 1,000 frail pensioners in one of the most “awful and disturbing” crimes in Scotland Yard’s history.

The sick rapist was given the chilling nickname the "Night Stalker" after pouncing on his victims after dark during almost 20 years of depravity.

A new documentary has revealed how Grant mocked police in interviews – arrogantly laughing as the net finally closed in on him.

Pressure had been mounting on the Met to capture the fiend and finally end his rampage after they linked him to 203 cases of unsolved rape, sexual assault and burglary.

In 2009, Senior Investigating Officer DSI Simon Morgan arrested Grant after taking over the probe following a series of blunders.

'I ALWAYS WEAR GLOVES'

He told British Police: Our Toughest Cases: "He started laughing, he knew my name and he asked if I knew what this was all about.

"I assured him he would know what this was all about."

His arrogance continued when police took him to get his fingerprints logged, boasting: "You shouldn't bother, I always wear gloves."

Grant first struck in 1992 by preying on vulnerable pensioners who were blind, deaf or suffering from Alzheimer's in South London.

The masked cabbie would break into the homes of men and women living alone and would cover their mouths with a gloved hand as he loomed over their beds.

He would sneak in through open windows or remove the pane entirely and unscrewed light bulbs, switched off the electricity and cut telephone lines before tip-toeing into his victims' bedrooms.

MANHUNT

Grant would then shine a torch in their eyes to wake them and always demanded sex in a whisper before spending hours in their home carrying out gruesome sex attacks.

The manhunt for the Night Stalker began in 1998, under the codename Operation Minstead, after two rapes were linked.

But a shocking police blunder a year later meant he evaded capture for more than a decade and allowed him to attack at least another 140 more victims.

In 2001, DSI Morgan began heading up the operation and became consumed with finally snaring the monster after previous officers committed basic errors allowing him to rape again.

He recalls in the documentary how he met one elderly woman who was raped in South East London.

The officer said: "She told me something very strange had happened, that he had kissed her goodbye.

"That’s unusual behaviour."

JEKYLL AND HYDE CHARACTER

The police faced a raft of difficulties as Grant never stuck to a strict timetable or the same location in London – meaning it was hard to predict where he would strike next.

DSI Morgan explained his victims were also from a "generation inclined to see good in everyone".

One woman even thanked the beast for being "gentle" when he raped her, while another didn't ring 999 as the police were "already so busy".

His victims ranged from the age of 68 to 93 – with the women and men painting a portrait of a Jekyll and Hyde character who would violently attack them before softly kissing them.

In one attack, he took a woman’s pulse, and after another he apologised saying: “I’m really sorry. I won’t do this again.”

REIGN OF TERROR

Dad-of-10 Grant, who was also the full-time carer of his estranged wife Jennifer, was described as a gerontophile – someone attracted to very old people.

He would sometimes leave homes without carrying out an attack after being reproached and asked what his mother would think.

But hundreds of his victims were not as lucky. During his most violent attack, Grant raped his victim twice and left her almost dying in a bloodbath from a perforated bowel.

Another victim, partially-blind Cynthia Stephens, 93, who he attacked in Croydon, South London, in 2009, died three months later, having “lost the will to live”.

Concentrating their hunt on Shirley – one of the night stalker's favourite areas – police scrambled 70 undercover officers to finally capture the monster.

BEAST FINALLY SNARED

The plan paid off and Grant was finally arrested in November 2009 as he prepared to carry out a burglary.

A grisly rape kit – including a grey balaclava, a blue cagole, a grey fleece and crow bar – matching the description of the night stalker was found in his car.

DSI Morgan said: “It was the right thing for me to invest my career into, it was 100 per cent worth it."

Grant finally stood trial in 2011 and was found guilty of 29 offences – including burglary, rape and sexual assault – after jurors rejected his "ludicrous" claims his ex-wife had planted his DNA at the crime scenes.

He was handed four life sentences at Woolwich Crown Court – with detectives believing Grant could have raped as many as 1,000 people.

Sentencing him, Judge Peter Rook said: "You targeted elderly victims living alone. Your actions blighted the remaining precious years of their lives.

"It's hard to imagine the extreme fear that the feel of your gloved hand and the sight of your masked figure looming above them must have been felt by your victims in their beds."

Grant's grisly reign of terror is set to be explored in hit ITV series Manhunt starring Martin Clunes as Detective Colin Sutton, who helped finally snare the fiend.

• British Police: Our Toughest Cases airs Saturdays at 10pm exclusively on Quest Red and available on dplay

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