ABOUT 2,000 sex crimes committed in the past decade are to be reinvestigated in an attempt to bring the attackers to justice.
Humberside Police is launching Operation Fox Two to reopen more than a decade of unsolved sex crimes, known as "cold cases".
It follows the success of Operation Fox, launched three years ago to snare sex attackers for crimes they committed more than 30 years ago.
This time, Humberside's Major Incident Team will be focusing on more than 2,000 unsolved sex crimes committed between 1999 and 2010.
Detective Superintendent Christine Wilson, who will spearhead the cold case reinvestigation, said: "With DNA technology, it is only a matter of time before we catch these offenders."
In most cases, the victims knew their attackers but lack of evidence halted any chance of successful prosecutions. However, in more than 200 cases, women were attacked by strangers.
Advances in scientific techniques mean detectives can now re-examine every piece of evidence gathered at the time to see if DNA profiles can be matched to any suspects.
In the previous operation, detectives focused on unsolved crimes from the 1970s to the early 1990s.
Det Supt Wilson said: "More than 2000 offences between 1999 and 2010 have been identified and, from these, a significant number of cases that would be suitable for forensic review have been identified.
"We will be reinvestigating them to see what forensic material is available.
"With advancements in DNA technology, we will be looking at materials found at the crime scene to see if DNA hits can now be obtained.
"Operation Fox Two will continue the successes we have had with our cold case work and see us reviewing a new decade of unsolved sex crimes."
Evidence from the unsolved cases is stored at a forensic laboratory in Birmingham.
The team behind Operation Fox Two will be examining files and statements as well as liaising with the forensic science team in Wakefield to decide if there is a chance of obtaining a breakthrough in any of the cases.
Operation Fox has seen attackers unmasked and identified after DNA obtained from material stored in the forensic lab scored a hit on the National DNA database.
In some cases, sex offenders had been caught for possessing cannabis or for minor motoring offences, and their DNA had been placed on the database.
When scientists obtained a DNA profile from evidence of the sex crime, it could be matched to the offender's profile on the national database.
Mervyn Bishop, Victim Support manager for the Humber, said: "It is good for victims to know that their cases have not been forgotten and the police are still looking for these people. It will warn offenders to expect a knock on the door and give victims some closure.
"We are here to offer victims support through this process if they need us."
He praised the dedication of the cold case team behind Operation Fox for bringing so many criminals to justice after years, often decades, of evading justice.
Mr Bishop said: "It is very positive that police are continuing with their cold case work.
"They have had some great successes over the past 10 years.
"Humberside Police should be congratulated."
Operation Fox had its first success in 2009 when it reinvestigated a city centre rape from 1991 and matched DNA from the crime scene to Paul Dook, of Burton Pidsea.
While still at large in 1995, Dook attempted to rape a woman in Cave Street, off Beverley Road, Hull.
After he was identified by the Operation Fox team, he was subsequently jailed for seven years.
This year, Michael Acey, nicknamed the "pot-bellied rapist", was jailed for ten years for abducting and raping a girl.
Acey, then aged 21, attacked the ten-year-old victim after dragging her into bushes near an old railway line at the back of Bilsdale Grove in east Hull, in April 1984.
Jamie Smith, 52, of Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, was jailed for more than five years after pleading guilty to raping a 16-year-old girl as she walked home from a nightclub in Hornsea 31 years ago.
Smith had been serving in the Army at the time of the rape, which he committed while on holiday in Withernsea.
The team also caught Mike Dixon, 38, who was jailed for six years and nine months for the knifepoint rape of a teenager in Bransholme in March 1991.
Dixon, living in Cambeak Close, Bransholme, at the time of the attack, was caught after his DNA was placed on the database when he was stopped for driving with no insurance in Essex.
The team also caught David Kevin Littlewood, 56, who dragged a nine-year-old girl off her bike and attacked her as she went to feed horses in a field between Ennerdale and the River Hull on July 9, 1979.
10
