Double Rapist Admits to Older Attack After DNA Links Him Up
Hackney Man Confesses to 2011 Rape
Jonathan Graden, 29, already locked up for a stranger rape last autumn in Spitalfields, has now pleaded guilty to an earlier attack. At Snaresbrook Crown Court on Monday 3 June, the Hackney man admitted raping a woman back in 2011.
DNA Ties Graden to Two Horrific Attacks
Graden was caught after police matched his DNA to the rape of a 22-year-old in Spitalfields on 9 November 2018. But that wasn’t all. The same evidence connected him to a chilling assault on 5 February 2011. On that day, a 24-year-old woman walking along Dyers Hall Road, E11, was ambushed from behind. Graden pushed her to the ground, raped her, and repeatedly slammed her head against the surface.
Hunt and Capture: CCTV and Community Efforts
In the later Spitalfields attack, Graden stalked a lone woman on Hanbury Street before dragging her into a basement for the ordeal. Police traced Graden’s escape to a taxi ride towards Belvedere, South East London. CCTV footage and mass appeals, including hundreds of leaflets dropped locally, pressured Graden into surrendering himself to police.
Justice on the Horizon
- Arrested on 21 December 2018
- Charged the next day and remanded in custody
- Guilty plea entered on 21 January 2019
- Sentencing set for 19 July at Snaresbrook Crown Court
Graden remains behind bars as he awaits his punishment for these brutal crimes.
