The Daily Telegraph

Rapist jailed 30 years on, after urinating on plant during row

- By Daily Telegraph Reporter

A MARRIED rapist was caught more than 30 years after he carried out his attacks because he urinated in a neighbour’s plant pot, a court heard.

Eric Mckenna, 60, was jailed for 23 years for raping two women in Gateshead and Newcastle in separate street attacks, Northumbri­a Police said.

He picked on them when they were walking alone and on each occasion he grabbed them from behind and threatened to use a knife.

His crimes went undetected until 2016 when he was arrested following a dispute with his neighbour and DNA swabs were taken which eventually matched him to the unsolved attacks.

The first took place in April 1983 when Mckenna, a scaffolder, raped a 21-year-old woman as she walked home near the High Level Bridge in Gateshead. The victim reported her ordeal to the police but officers could not identify her attacker.

Five years later he struck again in the Manors area of Newcastle and the second victim told police but they did not link the crimes and Mckenna was not identified.

But in 2016, Northumbri­a Police neighbourh­ood officers arrested him for urinating in a neighbour’s plant pot following a dispute and he was cautioned for harassment. His DNA was processed and exact matches were made for the two historic rapes.

Mckenna, of Clarewood Court, Newcastle, “did not flinch” when he was challenged over the rapes, Det Con Mick Wilson said.

Mckenna was jailed after a trial at Newcastle Crown Court.

 ??  ?? Eric Mckenna raped two women in Newcastle and Gateshead
Eric Mckenna raped two women in Newcastle and Gateshead

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