Roland Long, 67, jailed for raping woman in Cardiff four decades on after DNA advances

A pensioner has been jailed for raping a woman on a Cardiff street more than 40 years ago, after being caught due to advances in DNA technology.

Roland Long, now 67 and from Nailsea in Somerset, approached the woman in August 1980 as she was walking home one night.

Newport Crown Court heard that Long initially acted as a 'Good Samaritan', offering to help her with a box she was carrying.

But when she said no, he pursued her and pushed her to the ground in a lane in the Roath area of the city.

He then raped her in a “prolonged” attack, which lasted 10 minutes and left her fearing for her life.

Prosecutor Matthew Cobbe said the victim – whose identity is protected by law – feared she was "going to die" during the attack, and thought about the Yorkshire Ripper murders as killer Peter Sutcliffe had not been arrested at the time.

Mr Cobbe told the court: "She had tried to run, but she was wearing heels and [Long's] pace was faster.

"He shoved her to the ground and she fell to her knees. He turned her around and said: ‘No-one says no to me’.

"He ordered her: ‘Don’t scream and I won’t hurt you'. She remembers thinking she didn’t want to die."

'I was even frightened to go into my own home alone'

After the attack, Long ran away and the terrified woman went to a nearby house for help.

Although the crime was investigated immediately, forensic techniques available at the time were limited, and Long could not be traced.

A cold case review in 2008 also failed to solve the crime - but police reviewed the case again in 2019, and Long was arrested in 2020 after DNA evidence found on a piece of clothing linked him to the attack.

He initially denied the charge, but later changed his plea to guilty.

The woman, now in her 60s, was at Newport Crown Court on Tuesday 15 March to see him sentenced.

A victim impact statement read to the court said the attack had left her scared of the dark and frightened to live alone.

She said: “I was so shocked and scared after the attack, especially at night. I was even frightened to go into my own home alone.”

The court heard the woman had to leave Cardiff in the years after the attack and did not return for almost two decades.

She also said that she turned to alcohol to deal with the trauma and wished she had talked to a doctor at the time.

Long was given a 12-year extended sentence for the attack, and it was also revealed in court that he had a string of other convictions, including sex offences.

Kelly Huggins, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "Roland Long carried out a horrific crime which must have been terrifying for the victim, but the developments in DNA profiling allowed the CPS to build a case decades later and bring this sexual predator to court."

Detective Inspector Patrick Catto, head of South Wales Police's specialist crime review unit, said: "We remain committed to investigating undetected serious crimes and often re-look at cases as forensic science develops.

"This case show this commitment can bring results for victims and bring perpetrators to justice."