Convicted killer gets 11 years for 1984 rape of Swedish au pair

hendon UXBRIDGE
A convicted killer who raped a Swedish au pair in a park in 1984 has been jailed for 11 years after being snared by his ‘one in a billion’ DNA profile almost 30 years later.
Billy Day, 50, pounced on the 19 year-old woman as she walked through Shirehall Lane Park in Hendon, north London, in high heels on her way to meet a friend.
He threatened to stab her and break her neck before telling her he was ‘off to find another girl’.
The victim had only been in London for six weeks at the time of the attack and left the country because of the trauma she suffered.
Day was only linked to the rape in 2013 after his DNA profile was found to match a sample left behind at the scene.
The judge, Miss Recorder Alison Levitt QC, told him: ‘As she walked through the park one of the most terrifying things one can imagine happening took place.
‘She was afraid of the dark – she still startles easily if someone comes up behind her.’
The judge rejected claims of Day had shown remorse.
‘You still deny these offences – that empathy is worthless.
‘You have continued to deny responsibility and that is worrying.
‘You threatened to kill her and she was terrified.’
Judge Levitt said the woman was a ‘remarkable person’ who had gone on to achieve much in life despite her ordeal.
Day waved at his supporters in the public gallery as he was led to the cells.
After jurors found Day guilty they found he had previously convicted of manslaughter and perverting the course of justice in 1998 and jailed for 11 years.
Day had punched a man who hit his head and died from the injuries.
With others he then tried to dispose of the body by setting light to it and he was eventually jailed for his actions.
Samantha Cohen, prosecuting, said the sex attack took place on 7 December 1984 in the park near Hendon Underground Station.
She told jurors: ‘This may all have happened a long time ago but for [the woman] it no doubt feels like yesterday.
‘She has had to wait a long time for justice, and so has Mr Day.’
The court heard the victim as found the incident has ‘impacted her entire life.
‘It has made her, she considers, much more cautious about her personal safety,’ Ms Cohen explained.
‘She stopped being able to be a breezy, careless teenager and instead became somebody who was only too well aware of the evil that is out there in the world.
‘The impact this case has had on her is significant and unsurprising.’
Ms Cohen said the rape was widely publicised said Day ‘had the opportunity to hand himself in at the time and every day since’.
His victim heard footsteps behind her as she walked into the park, the court heard.
‘She sped up – she was wearing high heels and a thick coat – but so did the person behind her, then he broke into a run and caught her up,’ said the prosecutor.
‘She is a lone young woman at night on her own in a park and that is vulnerable.
‘The moment the complainant entered the park she was aware of steps behind her approaching her and the moment that she sped up she was aware of the person running to catch her.’
The rapist put his hand over her mouth and told her not to scream because he had a knife and would kill her.
Although he tried to cover her eyes, she was able to notice he was white, in his early twenties and was around 5’6 ins tall – a description that perfectly fit Day.
Day dragged the woman to a ‘more secluded area of the park’ before assaulting her.
He used an ‘unnecessary, gratuitous threat of violence’ with a knife – as well as his ‘immense physical strength’ – to try and keep her quiet.
Following the rape Day ‘seemed hesitant about what to do next’ and eventually told the woman to ‘lie face down on the bench and not move’, said Miss Cohen.
‘He threatened to return and break her neck if she did.
‘His parting words were that he was ‘off to find another girl’.’
The victim waited for five minutes before running home screaming and raising the alarm.
She arrived back at the house covered in both blood and mud and was ‘hysterical’.
Police were called and various DNA samples were taken but nobody was identified as a potential suspect, Ms Cohen explained.
Over the years the samples were re-examined a number of times.
But on February 12 2013, Day provided a sample of his DNA which was compared against semen collected following the rape and ‘there was a hit’.
‘The chances of the semen having come from someone other than Mr Day are in the order of one in one billion,’ Ms Cohen told jurors.
‘In support of the identification is the evidence that Mr Day was connected to an address round the corner from the park at the time of the attack and is the same height and rough age as the rapist.’
Police interviewed Day in August 2013 but he refused to answer any questions.
Day was just 18 at the time and this was stressed by his barrister – who also described him as a ‘human being of decency’ – as a mitigating factor.
He was supposedly a ‘young ambitious sportsman’ who was a bodybuilding champion in his youth and began taking steroids.
Day told jurors that the DNA must have been contaminated.
Investigating Officer, Detective Constable Gary Farrelly, said: ‘It was highly rewarding to be able to locate the victim and tell her that after all these years the man that had so brutally attacked her had been identified and arrested.
‘I hope this case gives other victims of rape and sexual offences the confidence to report crime to the police so that we can investigate, and demonstrates that we are committed to bringing offenders to justice, whatever the passage of time.
‘I would like to take this opportunity thank police colleagues overseas, who provided immense support to the victim and the overall investigation.’
Day, of Cumbrian Way, Uxbridge, was convicted of one count each of rape, buggery and indecent assault.
He has now been handed an 11 year sentence and is expected to serve half of that time behind bars.