PREM CHANDRA

MAN JAILED FOR MID-90’S BEDFORD RAPES

A double rapist was free for a decade because of a breakdown in communication between the forensic science service and the police.

Prem Chandra, now 49, was part of a gang that plied a 14-year-old girl with whisky before raping her.

In 1997, he was involved in gang rape of a 26-year-old woman after her office party.

Today, he was jailed for nine years by Judge Andrew Bright QC who told him: “You are now 49.

You are married man.

While you may have moved on the two victims have suffered devastating psychological damage.” Chandra's DNA profile, from samples taken when he was convicted for another offence in 2008, was eventually traced through work carried out under Operation Painter.

This review identified his links to the rapes from the mid-90s after a DNA match was found in 2009, but due to a communication breakdown, the police were not informed at the time.

He was finally arrested on 18 March 2018, pleaded guilty to two charges of rape from 25 June 1996 and 30 July 1997, and was sentenced to nine years in prison.