‘Stuff of nightmares’ – Ronald Brown finally brought to justice 21 years after raping 17-year-old girl

Ronald Brown, 61, of Asket Drive, Seacroft, carried out the sexual assault in Gipton, on a girl who was on her way home from a party in December 2001.

It was a crime that shook the whole community, but police at the time were unable to trace the suspect.

However, after the case was reopened in 2018, improvements in DNA technology meant the law was finally able to catch up with Brown when he was arrested in May of this year.

The judge sentencing Brown called the crime “the stuff of nightmares", referring to him as “remorseless and pitiless”.

During the sentencing hearing at Leeds Crown Court, Brown appeared via video link from prison, but he soon left the hearing, and was said by his barrister to be unwilling to engage with the court.

The girl, then aged 17, was walking home from a party at around 2.45am.

As she could not get anyone to walk her home, she keyed in “999” to her mobile phone, so she could immediately call it if anything happened to her.

She then walked down a dark path close to Fearnville Leisure Centre, when she heard a noise she had assumed was just a fox, but then noticed a man standing nearby.

By the time she had got onto Fearnville Road, she turned round to see him exposing himself. He then asked if she would “go with him”. The girl said “no”, to which he replied “you are coming with me”.

Brown then dragged her into an alleyway and forced her to perform a sex act, before taking her into a field and raping her. Brown told her he had a knife, and would kill her if she screamed.

She had called the emergency services, meaning some of the assault was audio recorded, but as soon as Brown realised the girl was holding a phone, he threw it away.

The attack continued for about 10 minutes, before Brown made a remark about not wanting to leave DNA behind and be caught.

Once he left the scene, the girl went to the first house she saw that had lights on, where the residents comforted her and called police.

Despite setting up an incident room for the case, West Yorkshire Police was unable to identify any men who matched the description given by the girl.

But in 2018 the offence was subject to a police cold case review and officers were then able to access improved DNA technology.

After the DNA was a close match with a relative of Brown, he and the relative were made to give DNA samples.

He was re-arrested on May 11 this year after the DNA taken from Brown showed a clear match to that taken in 2001.

Despite the evidence, Brown was said to deny the offences to the police, describing the act as “shameful”.

However, once the case got to the pre-trial hearing stage Ronald Brown pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent assault and one of rape.

A statement written by the victim, who is now 37, was read out to the court. It stated she had a “mini breakdown” and had to move away from the area.

The statement said: “My mental health has suffered because of what has happened to me.

"I have been on and off medication for the past 20 years. I suffer from social anxiety.

"I find it difficult to trust people. I have a small circle of friends and find it difficult to let anybody in.

"Sometimes I think if I did not wake up, it would be okay.”

On the length of time it has taken to find Brown, she added: “I spent the past 21 years of my life thinking people did not believe me.”

Mitigating, Robin Frieze told the court that no offences of this type were committed by Brown before or after this incident. He added that Brown had one of his legs amputated in 2021 due to complications from diabetes.

Sentencing Brown, Judge Tom Bayliss said: “He has shown absolutely no remorse, only a belated and fatalistic acceptance of his own guilt.

"This was a pitiless and degrading act on a vulnerable young woman. It is indeed the stuff of nightmares.

"In addition to the degradation at your hands, she has spent the last 21 years of her life thinking people didn’t believe her.

"Well, they do now.”

Judge Bayliss sentenced Brown to 14 years and three months imprisonment, and he must remain on the sex offenders’ register for life.

Following the sentencing, Detective Inspector Paul Conroy, of West Yorkshire Police’s Major Investigation Review Team, said: “We hope this outcome will give the victim some closure and allow her to move forward with her life.

“We accept that she has been waiting many years to see her attacker go to jail for what he did to her, but serious cases like this are never closed until we achieve justice for the victim.

“Brown probably thought he had got away with this after evading justice for so long, but the team is committed to achieving justice for victims, regardless of how long ago the crime was committed, and will do all in its power to bring those responsible before the courts.”