A serial rapist who evaded justice for 40 years has been sentenced after a cold case team used advanced DNA technology to finally bring him to justice. Roland Long, now in his 70s, admitted to a violent rape committed in 1980 and was sentenced to 10 years in prison earlier at Newport Crown Court.
The breakthrough came in 2020 when South Wales Police's Operation Dudley team used a technique known as DNA-17 to analyze tapings from a semen stain preserved in forensic archives since the original attack. The full DNA profile obtained matched Long, who was living in Nailsea, North Somerset, at the time of his arrest.
Det Insp Patrick Catto, who led the unit until recently, described the moment police informed the victim. 'I've been waiting for this knock on the door for the last 40 years,' she told them. The victim, who had only a name and date of birth to trace, was willing to be re-interviewed and support the prosecution.
Long had a history of sex offences dating from 1965 to 2012, including two custodial sentences. Despite initially pleading not guilty, he changed his plea after DNA evidence showed the chances of the stain being from someone else were 'one billion to one'.
Det Insp Catto said the case shows that police will pursue crimes regardless of time. 'It will bring hope to other victims and give people the courage to report these matters,' he said. He added that advances in science mean such cold case successes will become more common in the future.
