A 20-year-old man has been sentenced to five years for an attempted rape in Boston.
Keith Lindop had pleaded guilty to the offence, and a separate charge of actual bodily harm, and was sentenced at Lincoln Crown Court on Friday, 15 November.
Just after 3.15am on Sunday, 22 June this year, Lincolnshire Police received a 999 call from a member of the public reporting that a woman in her 20s had been attacked and was at McDonald’s at the town’s Queen Street.
Officers attended and spoke to the victim, who had been attacked in the long stay car park on George Street.
Following the attack, the force carried out an investigation that drafted in expertise from across the Force: Response officers who swiftly safeguarded the victim, located the scene, and completed all golden hour inquiries, which is the vital set of initial enquiries to capture crucial evidence; to the officers from many departments who spent the immediate hours after the attack walking the streets of Boston, knocking on doors and reviewing hours of CCTV footage in order to track the suspect and obtain a clear image of him for the vital media appeal.
The appeal was launched within hours, using an image captured from CCTV. Lindop’s name was put forward by multiple members of the public and positive IDs came from multiple sources.
In order to build up the vital evidence to place Lindop at the scene of the crime, officers trawled hours of CCTV captured from nine separate cameras, which traced Lindop from before, during and after the attack. Injuries found on his body also correlated with the victim’s account. Swabs taken from both the victim and suspect provided the critical forensic link that helped secure this conviction, bringing Lindop to justice.
Lincolnshire Police’s Tactical Support Team helped complete searches of the area where the attack took place and house to house enquiries while also attending to a number of other incidents that had taken place at a similar time. Crime Scene Investigators worked on the scene to put together the essential forensic strategies that were so crucial for the meticulous collation of evidence. The crucial evidence that secured the suspect’s arrest came from Protecting Vulnerable Persons officers completing the CCTV enquiries and finding a still on CCTV to put out in the media release, which resulted in his identification. The force’s Evidence Management Unit compiled a meticulous compilation of all the CCTV which showed the suspect’s movement from start to finish which was pivotal in bringing this predator to justice.
DC Sarah Oliver, the officer in charge of the case, said: “Lindop is a predatory and dangerous individual in the way that he watched and followed the victim. He was excessively violent during the attack. It was down to the courage and determination that the young woman showed in standing up to him that she managed to escape.”
Boston Neighbourhood Policing’s Inspector Ian Cotton said: “This really was excellent work from our officers, working all hours to bring this dangerous offender to justice.
“No woman should go through what this survivor did.
“Tackling violence against women and girls is a priority and there should be no hiding place for those who prey on women. If you feel unsafe in an environment locally, we want to hear about it. You can report through Streetsafe or contact your local policing team.”
Lindop, 20, of Station Street, Boston, was sentenced to five years in a Young Offenders’ Institution. He was also handed a five-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order, to be imposed when he is released. Lindop was also handed a 24-week sentence for actual bodily harm, to run concurrently.
