Rapist caught by DNA 20 years after attack on teen

A man who raped a teenage girl 20 years ago has been jailed after DNA evidence emerged.

The attack happened in October 2006, when Kennedy Jimmy, then 25, met the victim and her friend in a supermarket car park in Shefford, Bedfordshire.

He raped the girl when her friend went into a shop, but it was only due to a DNA breakthrough that Kennedy, now living in Staffordshire, was caught and convicted, Bedfordshire Police said.

Kennedy was jailed for six years at Luton Crown Court on Friday.

Police said when the victim's friend left to go shopping, he pulled the girl into the back of a car and raped her.

Despite an extensive investigation at the time, Jimmy – known to the victim only as 'Kenny' – could not be identified.

A specialist review of historical rape and sexual assault cases by the major crime unit revealed a DNA match, which led to his arrest in November 2022.

Jimmy, now 44, of Wessex Court, Sunny Bank, Stoke-on-Trent, was convicted of rape after a five-day trial at Luton Crown Court in October and was sentenced on Friday to six years with a life-long restraining order.

Det Con Rhian Batterham-Jones said: "This conviction demonstrates that time is no barrier to justice.

"Jimmy thought he had escaped accountability, but advances in forensic science and the determination of our team proved otherwise.

"I want to commend the victim for her incredible courage in coming forward and reliving such a traumatic experience two decades later."

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