Man jailed for 1984 Manchester rape after DNA advances

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Henry William DrennanImage source, Greater Manchester Police
Image caption,
Henry Drennan committed rapes in Manchester and Edinburgh in 1984

A man who raped a woman in 1984 has been jailed after DNA advances enabled detectives to link him to the crime.

The victim, who was 29 at the time, was sleeping when Henry Drennan broke into her Manchester home.

New forensic techniques matched samples to Drennan, whose details were on the DNA database.

The 58-year-old, from Lanarkshire, was arrested at his home last year. He was jailed for ten years at Manchester Crown Court.

He entered a guilty plea in December.

Threatened

The victim still suffered "vivid flashbacks of the whole terrifying ordeal", Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said, adding she was "incredibly brave" to support the reopened investigation.

On the morning of 13 January 1984, the victim's husband left home while his family were asleep in their beds.

Drennan broke into the house and threatened the woman with a sharp instrument before raping her.

After Drennan fled, she went to check on her child, before calling her husband, who alerted police.

Drennan moved to Scotland and raped another woman in Edinburgh in 1984, for which he was jailed.

Edinburgh attack

But DNA profiling had not been fully introduced at the time, so no link was made between the attacks.

GMP's cold case unit re-opened the investigation in 2009.

But it was only in 2015 that detectives had the forensic technology to solve the Manchester investigation and arrest Drennan at his Lanarkshire home.

Det Con Michaela Clinch said the initial impact on the victim meant she was "scared to be alone in her own home, scared to go out, scared to take the bus to visit family, scared to live her day-to-day life".

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