By Calvin Palmer
A serial sex attacker convicted today of 25 attacks against women was not arrested until four years after he was made a suspect.
Kirk Reid, 44, a college chef and children’s football coach, was found guilty today at Kingston Crown Court of assaulting 25 women, including raping two.
Reid, who admitted a further two indecent assaults, attacked his victims as they made their way home from nights out in the Balham, Clapham and Tooting areas of southwest London.
He was also found guilty of raping a woman he grabbed on the street in March 2002, and the rape of a woman in a flat in 1995.
Judge Shani Barnes called for psychiatric reports and said she would sentence him later.
Police believe Reid is a serial offender behind at least 71 attacks on women. Investigators suspect he could be responsible for dozens more attacks that have not been reported and have launched a helpline for potential victims.
Officers in Wandsworth borough identified that a repeat sex attacker was on the loose in September 2002 and identified Reid as a suspect in February 2004.
But they never bothered to interview him, search his home or take a DNA sample. They had become fixated with another suspect — an innocent man who had no previous record of offending — despite the fact his DNA did not match that of their attacker and he was never picked out of an ID parade.
Reid was not held until January 2008 when Scotland Yard detectives took over the case and he was arrested five days later.
A senior officer at Scotland Yard said that colleagues were “embarrassed and staggered” by the blunders and that it was “complete and utter incompetence”.
In a statement following the conviction, Commander Mark Simmons, from the Metropolitan Police’s territorial policing unit, apologized for the force’s failings.
“It is clear from the evidence heard in court that the standard of investigation was not what we as an organization, or the victims, should have expected,” he said.
“Reid should have been arrested sooner and I, on behalf of the Metropolitan Police Service and as head of Sapphire, am sorry those women who were subsequently attacked by him have been caused unnecessary suffering.”
Judge Barnes criticized police for their “years of inadequate work” but praised Detective Inspector Justin Davies.
She said: “I now have some observations about the unfortunate period of time these matters were allowed to continue through the years.
“Most importantly, I will be having something to say about the excellent efforts of the Serious Crime Directorate under the guidance of Detective Inspector Justin Davies, who, after years of inadequate work, he and his team went back to the beginning and, through brilliant police work, finally brought this matter to the courts.”
In January 2004 a man dialled 999 to say a woman was being attacked and gave a description of the suspect, his car and his registration number, but police never traced the owner.
A month later, a WPC saw Reid, whose brother is a policeman, beeping his horn at lone women. Upon putting his number plate in the system, he saw it was the same as that in the emergency call.
She warned detectives at the Sapphire Unit that Reid could be their man, but again nothing was done. He went on to attack at least 20 more women before being caught.
Two reviews were carried out into the case by senior officers at Scotland Yard and the Wandsworth Sapphire Unit, one in late 2004 and another in 2006, and although Reid’s name was in the system as a suspect no-one bothered to TIE — trace, interview, eliminate — him.
The offences took place in three clusters along the A24 corridor, close to Clapham South, Balham and Tooting Bec Tube stations.
Reid stalked the route of the 155 night bus, a service used by many people heading home from nights out in central London that passes several Tube stations.
Oyster card records revealed he often used the bus himself but police also discovered he used his car to prowl the streets at night.
Reid waited until his victims walked into quiet and leafy side streets before grabbing them from behind. The keen athlete used his strength and 6ft 2ins height to overpower the women and drag them on to the ground.
He violently groped inside their underwear while clamping his other hand tightly over their mouth during attacks that lasted up to three minutes.
If they fought back, screamed and shouted or if he was disturbed he would sprint away towards the nearest main road.
Many of Reid’s victims had been out drinking and most of them were slight women dressed in skirts and high heels.
Some were assaulted just yards from their front doors as they were distracted by looking for their keys or as they texted friends to say they were home safely.
His first victim, who was six months pregnant, fought him off with an umbrella after he followed her into a lift at her block of flats.
One woman was raped after Reid pounced on a deserted landing leading up to her Battersea flat.
In January 2008, the Homicide and Serious Crime Command took over the case. They saw Reid was a suspect, collected a DNA sample from him and he was charged six days later.
Detective Inspector Davies said Reid is an extremely dangerous man.
He said: “On each occasion the focus of the indecent assault is to grab the vaginal area or to attempt digital penetration with his fingers. No attempt is made of any other sexual attack on the breasts or bottom or attempt to access them.
“There is very little speech and very little violence used other than to control them. At any point when the victim responds by screaming, or tries to fight him off, he will run away.”
Reid denied rape, 16 counts of indecent assault, three counts of assault by penetration and six counts of sexual assault. He also denied the unconnected rape on another woman in 1995.
He was cleared of one of the assault charges.
[Based on reports by The Times and The Daily Telegraph.]
Calvin Palmer's Weblog 