DCI Colin Sutton was nearing retirement when he was called in to assist with the arrest of the Night Stalker, Delroy Grant. The Jamaican native had terrorized England’s South East London area for nearly two decades, sexually assaulting elderly men and women aged between 68 and 93.
The Metropolitan Police had nearly caught him in 1999, ten years before his eventual capture, but he slipped through their net due to a procedural error. Delroy couldn’t escape the experienced Colin, who set up a massive operation to catch the demented rapist. Colin Sutton’s efforts form the basis of ITV’s September 2021 release, Manhunt: The Night Stalker.
Grant is in prison and eligible for parole 25 years and 8 months into his sentence
In March 2011, Judge Peter Rook sentenced Grant to four life sentences and ordered that he serve a minimum of 27 years in prison. He is serving his sentence at HMP Belmarsh in Thameshead. The Category A prison holds some of Britain’s most notorious criminals.
The court found Grant guilty of all 29 counts the prosecution brought against him. “Your utter depravity knows no bounds,” the judge said. Judge Rook added:
“You targeted elderly victims living alone. Your actions blighted the remaining precious years of their lives. Their homes, where many of them had lived for years, should have been their safest refuge where they could have expected to live their lives undisturbed and at peace.”
Delroy can apply for parole 25 years and eight months into his sentence. Given the nature of his crimes, it is improbable that he’d be granted parole. Delroy Grant will likely never leave prison.
Grant targeted vulnerable women and men who couldn’t resist his assaults due to disease or poor mental health. To increase the terror, Delroy disconnected the telephone lines and electricity.
Delroy was unpredictable: He would alternate between violence and gentle kisses; other times, he would break in and leave without assaulting his victims. Grant would whisper to his victims before proceeding with his assault.
DCI Sutton opines that police didn’t uncover the true extent of Delroy’s crimes. “Officially we have looked at 203 offences but my guess would be you could probably double or treble that number,” DCI Sutton said.
Per the DCI, Delroy Grant probably committed over 600 crimes in nearly two decades. While sentencing Delroy, the judge added:
“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 blamed his first wife, Janet Watson, for framing him and pointed to his son as the perpetrator
Delroy and his first wife, Janet Watson, were engaged two weeks after meeting in 1975. They married and welcomed two sons, Delroy Junior and Michael.
Janet divorced Delroy due to his controlling and abusive nature. Grant later married Jennifer Edwards, a devoted Jehovah’s Witness.
Grant took care of Jennifer after her multiple sclerosis diagnosis. The community adored him for the sacrifices he made for Jennifer. Nobody in the couple’s Brockley neighborhood would have suspected that Grant was a rapist by night.
His job as a taxi driver helped him identify and target elderly victims.
During his trial, Grant pointed to his son as the perpetrator of the crimes. Grant said that his wife, Janet Watson, framed him by planting his saliva and semen in crime scenes. Janet gave a blistering description of Grant:
“I don’t feel anything for that man, he’s evil. He’s bad, he’s not mad. I know some people have said he must be mad to have done all those terrible things to those elderly people, but he’s not mad, he knew what he was doing. I hadn’t heard from him or had anything to do with him for years.”