Kentish Express Ashford & District
Delay in taking suspect’s DNA
Married father John Williams, of Essetford Road, South Ashford, was jailed for life, with a sevenyear minimum term to be served, after appearing at Canterbury Crown Court in May 2014.
He had previously pleading guilty to sexually assaulting more than 20 women and teenage girls between November 1991 and August 2013 as they walked along pathways in secluded wooded areas, mostly in Ashford.
His method of operation was to approach women from behind and put his hand over their mouth before molesting them.
One of his victims, a 17-year-old schoolgirl, was attacked in June 2012 in Millennium Woods in Ashford.
Another 18-year-old victim was told by the attacker: “If you scream I’ll rape you.”
Williams was caught after Kent Police launched a large-scale manhunt when they linked three sex attacks which took place within the space of one year.
In total, three e-fit images were released by the force in an attempt to track him down. Over the course of the operation, DNA evidence was collected from more than 80 men, 5,000 leaflets were given out and more than 100 schools, shops and businesses were visited.
The Kentish Express also offered a £500 reward for information leading to his arrest and an appeal appeared on the BBC’s Crimewatch programme.
The investigation by the IPCC revealed that in the autumn of 2012 Williams was identified as a suspect after a member of the public recognised him from one of the e-fits.
But no DNA was taken by police at the time, and Williams went on to commit two further sex attacks.
Eventually, he was interviewed by police in September 2013, and a DNA sample was taken, which matched him to sexual assaults in 2012. He was later arrested and charged.
The two attacks in 2013 involved assaults on a 16-year-old in Tunbury Wood, Walderslade, and on a 22-year-old near Singleton Lake, Ashford.