The Batman rapist is an unidentified English serial

sex offender A sex offender (sexual offender, sex abuser, or sexual abuser) is a person who has committed a sex crime. What constitutes a sex crime differs by culture and legal jurisdiction. The majority of convicted sex offenders have convictions for crime ...

who committed at least seventeen

sexual assault Sexual assault is an act in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence, which ...

s on women in the city of

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, between 1991 and 2000. He is the subject of Britain's longest–running serial rape investigation, codenamed Operation Eagle, and has now eluded capture for more than thirty years.

Detective Inspector Inspector, also police inspector or inspector of police, is a police rank. The rank or position varies in seniority depending on the organization that uses it. Australia In Australian police forces, the rank of inspector is generally the ne ...

Paul James of

Avon and Somerset Constabulary Avon and Somerset Police is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement in the county of Somerset and in four districts that used to be in the defunct county of Avon: Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset and So ...

, leading the operation, said it is "one of the most complicated and protracted investigations" that the force has ever undertaken. The perpetrator was nicknamed after leaving a baseball cap bearing a logo from the ''Batman'' film series at the scene of one attack. Police believe that there are more victims who have never come forward. The independent crime-fighting charity

Crimestoppers UK Crimestoppers Trust is an independent crime-fighting charitable organisation in the United Kingdom. Crimestoppers operates the 0800 555 111 telephone number, allowing people to call anonymously to pass on information about crime. People can also ...

have offered a £10,000 reward for information leading to his capture. The perpetrator has also been referred to in the news media as the "

Riddler The Riddler (Edward Nigma, later Edward Nygma or Edward Nashton) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by Bill Finger and Dick Sprang, and debuted in ''Detective Comics'' #140 in Oc ...

''Modus operandi''

Police say that the Batman rapist has a detailed geographical knowledge of

and operates in "a specific hunting ground". All but one of his crimes have taken place in Bath, usually in the

Bathwick Bathwick is an electoral ward in the City of Bath, England, on the opposite bank of the River Avon to the historic city centre. Bathwick was part of the hundred of Bath Forum. The district became part of the Bath urban area with the 18th cent ...

area of the city, the exception being the abduction and rape of a 19-year-old woman in Kingswood, near

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, in September 1996. The perpetrator's crimes usually take place during the darker winter months. He targets lone women who have just returned to their cars, abducting them at knifepoint before forcing them to drive to secluded areas in the south of the city where he then attacks them. He removes their underwear and rips their

tights Tights are a kind of cloth garment, most often sheathing the body from the waist to the toe tips with a tight fit, hence the name. They come in absolute opaque, opaque, sheer and fishnet styles — or a combination, such as the original concept ...

during the rapes, but then makes them put them back on after the rape is over. After raping his victim, he often forces them to drive back to the area where he abducted them. The perpetrator has attacked women of all ages, and in May 2000 attempted to

carjack Carjacking is a robbery in which the item taken over is a motor vehicle.Michael Cherbonneau, "Carjacking," in ''Encyclopedia of Social Problems'', Vol. 1 (SAGE, 2008: ed. Vincent N. Parrillo), pp. 110-11. In contrast to car theft, carjacking is ...

a 26-year-old woman in Bath while her seven-year-old daughter was in the car. In October 2000, to coincide with the end of

British Summer Time During British Summer Time (BST), civil time in the United Kingdom is advanced one hour forward of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), in effect changing the time zone from UTC±00:00 to UTC+01:00, so that mornings have one hour less daylight, and ev ...

delivered leaflets to 25,000 homes in Bath—the biggest leaflet drop in the history of British criminal investigation—asking women to complete a checklist about friends, acquaintances, neighbours or relatives who might fit the

profile Profile or profiles may refer to: Art, entertainment and media Music * ''Profile'' (Jan Akkerman album), 1973 * ''Profile'' (Githead album), 2005 * ''Profile'' (Pat Donohue album), 2005 * ''Profile'' (Duke Pearson album), 1959 * '' ''Profi ...

of: * a white male * slim or medium build * aged between 30 and 50 * knows the Bath area well, and has some connection with Bristol, particularly the Kingswood area, and can drive a car * has a tights fetish and could persuade his consenting sexual partners to wear tights, which he may rip during intercourse * sometimes wears a baseball cap * has aroused suspicion with absences from home during the evening and early hours of the morning The rapist has long periods of apparent inactivity, including a three-year gap between October 1991 and November 1994, followed by a further two years of apparent inactivity until June 1996. Police suspected there were other attacks during these lulls in activity, although a spokesman has said "Another possibility to explain the long gaps is that this is a man who comes to the area infrequently, possibly for work reasons." His attacks may also take place while the rapist is between relationships. His attacks are usually between 6pm and 8pm, "possibly on the way home from work", or between 1am and 3am, and he may have convictions for car-related crimes "because of the ease with which he breaks into vehicles."

Physical description

Victims described him as wearing black clothing and a baseball cap. He was slim, clean shaven and is about 5 ft 9ins tall with blue eyes. He has a scar below his bottom lip.

''Crimewatch''

The case was highlighted on the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

's ''

Crimewatch ''Crimewatch'' (formerly ''Crimewatch UK'') is a British television programme produced by the BBC, that reconstructs major unsolved crimes in order to gain information from the public which may assist in solving the case. The programme was or ...

'' on 25 January 2000, including an appeal from Avon and Somerset Constabulary for information from the public. As a result of the appeal, six previously unknown victims came forward. Callers also gave the names of four potential suspects, including the son of a British diplomat, and "dozens of calls were received from prostitutes and partners of people with similar sexual habits".

Suspects

One theory considered by police was that the rapist had been in prison or away from the area while serving as a member of the armed forces, based on his inactivity between October 1991 and November 1994 and between February 1997 and January 1999. Detectives later learned that these periods coincided with dates when a diplomat's son, whose name had been given by a caller to ''Crimewatch'', was out of the country living with his father. Although detectives visited the country where the father works to ascertain if similar attacks had occurred there, no further information has been forthcoming from the police.

DNA

In January 2001, the

Forensic Science Service The Forensic Science Service (FSS) was a government-owned company in the United Kingdom which provided forensic science services to the police forces and government agencies of England and Wales, as well as other countries. The UK Government ...

used the

Low copy number Low Copy Number (LCN) is a DNA profiling technique developed by the UK Forensic Science Service (FSS) which has been in use since 1999. In the United Kingdom use of the technique was suspended between 21 December 2007 and 14 January 2008 while t ...

(LCN)

DNA profiling DNA profiling (also called DNA fingerprinting) is the process of determining an individual's DNA characteristics. DNA analysis intended to identify a species, rather than an individual, is called DNA barcoding. DNA profiling is a forensic tec ...

technique to isolate the rapist's DNA "fingerprint". They then began the process of taking swabs for comparison from all the men, believed to be around 2,000 individuals, whose names had come up during the course of the investigation.

Murder of Melanie Hall

Police investigating the abduction and murder of 25-year-old Melanie Hall, who disappeared after a night out in Bath in June 1996, have not ruled out a connection with the rapist. He is known to have attempted to carjack a woman at knifepoint in the same area of the city a few hours before Hall was abducted, leaving his victim wounded when she fought back and managed to escape.

References

External links

January 2000 ''Crimewatch'' reconstructions and appeal on the rapist (1:18-13:02)2020 summary on the case by the local newspaper ''SomersetLive''2019 article on the case by local newspaper ''SomersetLive''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Batman Rapist 20th-century English criminals 21st-century English criminals Crime in Somerset Criminals from Somerset Sex crimes in England English rapists Fugitives wanted by the United Kingdom Rape in England Unidentified British rapists Unsolved crimes in the United Kingdom