Man denies decade-old rape claim

Dec 14 2007

A POLICE operation to investigate unsolved serious sex crimes led them to a man who carried out a terrifying rape attack on a Merseyside woman 13 years ago, a court heard yesterday.

As part of Operation Advance, a forensic scientist took a swab from the rape victim out of a long-term storage freezer at Chorley forensic science laboratory and compared the DNA against all samples on the national database.

The database revealed DNA from Ian McDowell, from Kirkby, which matched a swab taken from the woman after the alleged attack, Liverpool Crown Court was told.

Deborah Gould, prosecuting, said the chances of the DNA not being McDowell’s was about one in a billion.

The attack on the woman happened on a deserted building site on June 30, 1994. Miss Gould told the jury that the woman, who was 38 at the time of the offence, had left a pub with a man who appeared to be acting as a Good Samaritan.

“She put her trust in the kindness he was extending to her. She was then brutally raped ... and ran naked into the road,” she said.

Re-living the incident, the woman, who gave evidence from behind a curtain, told the court that she went out drinking with her partner, with whom she still lives, and they visited a few pubs in the city centre.

While in the Rainbow and Horse pub, in Bury Street, they had a row and to her surprise she realised he had gone. She waited for him to return for several hours and while doing so chatted to various customers.

“I remember feeling totally exhausted, upset and confused and the drink wasn’t helping,” she said. “I wanted to clear my head and for everything to be OK.”

She asked a man to whom she was chatting for assistance and he appeared sympathetic. The man, allegedly McDowell, said she could go to his grandmother’s home for a coffee and to collect her thoughts. She agreed and they got a taxi.

The woman said that when the taxi stopped she could not see any houses. “There was no-one there. I was shocked. I was feeling panicky, it didn’t feel right,” she said.

They walked up con-crete steps up a grass verge by some bushes and she remembered being flung to the ground and I landed on my back. He was very confident and intimidating as if he had authority over me and being struck and having blood in her mouth.

She said he ordered her to strip and place her belongings in a pile. “I was terrified and had to comply. I think he lost patience and ripped my bra off and slung me back on the ground and I landed on my face hurting myself,” she said.

The woman, now 52, said McDowell raped her. She , as she lay on the rough ground where there were sticks and branches and she felt nauseous.

She said that she believes she has suppressed her memories of the incident to protect her sanity but said she remembered getting punched in the face.“He stood up.“I thought this is it. I thought I was going to get murdered,” she added.

After he had a cigarette he grabbed her by the hair and ordered her to perform a sex act on him. “It really sickened me,” she said.

She made an excuse, saying she needed to urinate, and he pointed a short distance away. When she got there, she saw a gap in the fence and fled. 

She managed to escape, fleeing naked and ran out into the road and waved down a taxi and the driver put her in his cab and radioed for help. The court heard that police records at the time have largely been destroyed and his name is now unknown.

She was examined and swabs were taken which eventually led to McDowell’s arrest.

McDowell, 41, of Brindley Road, Westvale, denies rape.

The case continues.

The court was told McDowell said he had had consensual sex with the woman, but claimed it had taken place in a different location.

He said he did not know how she had come by her 37 separate injuries, which included bite marks to her shoulders and back, but said that he did bite when having sex.

McDowell, 41, of Brindley Road, Westvale, denies rape.

The case continues.