Rapist jailed for 14-year-old crime

Nick Keall was convicted after a week-long trial in July

A rapist has been jailed for eight years for a crime he committed 14 years ago after a fresh investigation by the Metropolitan Police's Cold Case Review unit.

Nick Keall, 41, a minicab driver from Winchmore Hill, north London, dragged an au pair into church grounds and raped her in May 1989.

He tried to choke his victim and repeatedly punched her, Wood Green Crown Court was told.

Keall, who also received 12 months in jail to run concurrently for assault, was convicted after a week-long trial in July.

The court had heard how the attack had ruined the victim's life.

Now a 35-year-old financial assistant in Belgium, she told BBC London she had a nervous breakdown in January 1995.

It means the police will never give up Commander John Yates, Metropolitan Police

"I had a huge nervous breakdown and I really felt dirty and guilty and lost and alone."

She was in court to see her attacker sentenced on Monday.

Keall was caught after he was arrested for an assault in December 2001 and evidence taken after the arrest matched the DNA profile taken from the rape crime scene.

"It means the police will never give up," Commander John Yates told BBC London.

"We will always look at our old cases on a case by case basis. It's quite clear there are cases out there which are solvable.

"We're going to do our best to solve them with forensic science."

The Cold Case Review team is a unit which investigates stranger rapes which occurred several years ago.