Cold Case DNA Leads to 16-Year-Old Rape Conviction

COLD CASE DNA LEADS TO 16-YEAR-OLD RAPE CONVICTION

A man named Martin Done, aged 44, was sentenced to 10 years in jail after being found guilty of a rape that occurred over 16 years ago.

The incident involved him raping a 22-year-old woman at her home in Keighley, West Yorkshire, on May 19, 1989.

The victim was threatened at knifepoint by Done, who was armed with a carpet knife and confronted her while she was caring for her newborn baby.

Done threatened to kill the baby if she did not comply, then forcibly took her upstairs into her bedroom to perform a sex act before raping her.

The case was reopened years later due to advances in DNA technology, which allowed police to match semen samples from the crime scene to DNA provided by Done in 1999 when he was convicted of assaulting a taxi driver.

The match indicated there was a one in a billion chance that he was not the perpetrator.

Done was arrested last year and later convicted, with the court noting the significant DNA evidence confirming his guilt.

He was sentenced to ten years in prison at Leeds Crown Court.

This case was part of a national initiative called Operation Advance, which re-examines cold cases with modern forensic methods, and Done was the 13th offender to be convicted through this program.