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An undercover rookie police officer who helped snare the Clifton Rapist has recalled her position in busting the vile attacker and getting somebody ‘so evil off the streets’.
In the late Seventies, girls within the Clifton, Redland and Westbury Park areas of Bristol had been terrorised by the person who prowled the streets searching for victims.
Ronald Evans, a convicted assassin and rapist who’s now 83, was the person behind the assaults and had moved to Bristol after being launched from jail.
Over an 18-month interval, seven girls had been attacked and sexually assaulted, many as they walked dwelling at evening.
As the assaults turned extra critical, college students had been warned to not stroll alone at evening.
Male cops dressed up in lengthy blonde wigs, stockings, excessive heeled sneakers and padded bras and walked the town streets in a bid to snare the rapist.
And feminine cops – some as younger as 18 – had been additionally despatched out in plain garments as a part of Operation Argus.
Night after evening the staff of officers went out hoping to catch the attacker, who they believed drove a yellow Ford Capri, and within the early hours of March 23 1979 Evans fell into their honeytrap.
PC Michelle Leonard, then aged 24, was grabbed by an unsuspecting Evans and informed ‘do not scream or I’ll kill you’.
Ronald Evans, who turned referred to as the ‘Clifton Rapist’ following a collection of intercourse assaults within the Bristol Downs within the Seventies
She mentioned: ‘There had been lots of demonstrations, leaflets given to the college, to provide out to girls, to not stroll round on their very own.
‘I feel a few of them felt that they needed to go round in twos on a regular basis.
‘They did not need to do this, they needed to have the liberty to go about what they had been doing with out concern of assault.’
She mentioned her position was to stroll a pre-planned route close to to the place earlier assaults had taken place.
Officers had been spaced out alongside the route, hidden in gardens and communication was maintained through radios.
‘Any time you felt you had been at risk, you might name it off,’ she mentioned.
‘As I’ve walked into Whiteladies Road, the sergeant clocks this yellow Capri, which is in our system, having been across the scene of a rape.
‘He realises the motive force is equivalent to the photofit. That photofit was him.
‘I simply bought as much as Chantry Road once I heard on the radio that the Capri had pulled as much as the Good Food, and the ‘Driver was watching Michelle’.
‘I’d bought into the darkish a part of Clifton and I’m nearly to cross into Chertsey Road when he mentioned: ‘The driver’s bought out of the automotive. He’s following Michelle on foot’.
‘There was a type of delay after which it got here again ‘Attention all people, this man is on life licence for homicide and has earlier convictions for rape’.
‘I had a second the place I assumed, ought to I hand over, or ought to I proceed, and I assumed no, I’ve bought to get below a streetlight.
Michelle Leonard (centre) as a PC whereas she was in her twenties
Evans was launched from jail in January 2019 after spending almost six a long time of his life behind bars for homicide and a string of sexual assaults
But he was recalled to jail once more final yr for one more sexual assaultÂ
‘I might hear his footsteps – I used to be nice whereas I might hear his footsteps. As quickly as I bought to the streetlight, I could not hear him anymore.
‘As I circled, there he was on my shoulder. He grabbed me across the throat, across the arm and mentioned ‘Don’t scream or I’ll kill you’ and started to tug me again into the backyard.
‘That was sufficient for everyone to come back out of the bushes, folks within the vehicles all turned up, he realised he had been caught, hit me, pushed me all the way down to the bottom and began working.
‘Luckily on the finish of the highway was one other officer, and he was arrested.’
Evans, who was 38 on the time of his arrest, was jailed for committing sexual offences in opposition to 5 girls.
He was additionally convicted of offences in opposition to an extra two girls in 2015, following which he obtained a further 10-year jail sentence.
Evans was launched after a complete of 57 years in November 2018 earlier than re-offending, and being returned to jail in 2023, the place – now in his eighties – he stays to this present day.
Reflecting on her position in his conviction for the Bristol assaults, Ms Leonard added: ‘I really feel fairly proud that I’d been concerned in such a job, the place any person so evil was taken off the streets.’
Ms Leonard was sharing her story as a part of a collection celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of Avon and Somerset Police.
The Parole Board launched Evans in January 2019 after greater than 5 a long time behind bars for homicide and a string of sexual assaults.
Evans served 11 years in jail for murdering 21-year-old store employee Kathleen Heathcote in 1963 earlier than shifting to Bristol after he was launched on life licence in 1975
PC Michelle Leonard, then aged 24, was grabbed by an unsuspecting Evans and informed ‘do not scream or I’ll kill you’. She is pictured left in her twenties
He moved right into a flat in Wembley, northwest London, and started volunteering at a group centre, the place he started to ‘goal susceptible girls’, prosecutor Lauren Sales mentioned on the Old Bailey.
The prosecutor described Evans as ‘a leopard that can’t change his spots,’ including: ‘Despite his age, he was and stays a sexual predator.’
Evans met one sufferer by way of the group centre then lunged at her thigh and proper buttock after persuading her to come back to his flat in July final yr.
After Evans sat subsequent to her on the sofa ‘his manner modified’ his ‘eyes glistened’ and he pounced on the girl, the trial heard.
The sufferer informed the courtroom: ‘I assumed is that this the purpose the place I get killed, hit or attacked, or is that this the purpose that I get pressured and raped?’
She added: ‘I feel [Evans] groomed me, picked me. He was overly eager to be my good friend, telling me he was sensitive feely, that girls love him.
‘Everything appeared to suit into getting me ready for one thing he needed to do to me.’
When police arrested him, they discovered a purple intercourse toy, condoms and lubricant in his bedside drawer.
The rapist murdered 21-year-old store employee Kathleen Heathcote in 1963.
Evans served 11 years in jail for Miss Heathcote’s homicide and started working as an electrician in Bristol after he was launched on life licence in 1975.
Between 1977 and 1979, seven girls had been ambushed and sexually assaulted as they walked dwelling alone within the Clifton, Redland and Westbury Park areas of Bristol.
The descriptions of the attacker supplied by every lady bore haunting similarities, and locals started to seek advice from the prowler as ‘The Clifton Rapist’ or ‘The Clifton Beast.’
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