A serial violent sexual predator dubbed the ‘Southwark Rapist’ will spend the rest of his life behind bars for a series of notorious attacks on elderly women in their homes.
Michael John Roberts, 45, (pictured) of St. James Road, Southwark, received the whole life sentence for a series of crimes in the late 80’s and early 90’s against women aged between 57 and 83.
He was convicted of three rapes; two indecent assaults; one buggery; two counts of grievous bodily harm and four burglaries.
He was arrested as the result of a cold case review conducted by detectives from the Metropolitan Police Service’s Specialist Crime Review Group.
Between December 1988 and June 1990 Roberts committed a series of violent burglaries, raping, beating and indecently assaulting lone women in their homes.
Each of the victims lived less than a mile from his home address and a former address in nearby Gaywood Street – some much closer.
He inflicted extreme violence on all of his victims, including a 57 year-old woman on Boxing Day 1988, who he raped and left with a broken jaw and fractured eye socket.
No suspect was successfully identified until a DNA match with Roberts was made in 2005.
At the time he was serving a life sentence for the brutal robbery and assault of an elderly man in his home in Lee, Lewisham.
Detective Inspector Nathan Eason of the Homicide and Serious Crime Command said: “Michael Roberts had no regard for the lives of others, and picked on those least able to defend themselves.
“In the late Eighties he went even further by committing vile sexual attacks which are beyond most peoples comprehension.”
Outside Southwark Crown Court, DI Eason read a statement on behalf of the victims families, which red: “Roberts is a sexual predator who preyed on the elderly in Southwark during the late Eighties and early Nineties.
“Unfortunately none of his victims lived to see him brought to justice today.
“The families have expressed a deep satisfaction with the sentence handed down today and they have asked that thanks be given to officers from the Specialist Crime Review Group and recognize that the work of ex Detective Chief Inspector Brian Bowden-Brown was significant in bringing Roberts to justice.
“They would also like to thank the Forensic Science Service, the police investigation team, the prosecution counsel and the jury.
“They take great satisfaction in knowing that Roberts will never be able to devastate another life.”
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