‘Outrageous’ perpetrator who raped children and single women sentenced to 17 years in prison

A “brazen” offender who raped children and single women over a five-year period has been jailed for 17 years.

Leon Alexander, 31, was arrested after raping a girl in north London, leading to him being found guilty of previous crimes.

Police were called last March by the girl, in her mid-teens, who was raped after leaving an apartment complex on Joyce Avenue in Edmonton.

Officers launched an investigation and seized CCTV, which provided an image of a man matching the girl’s description of her attacker.

The image was circulated among police and Alexander, of Allington Avenue, Tottenham, was identified, arrested, charged and taken to prison.

Detective Constable Rebecca Mussington, who led the investigation, noted that Alexander had previously been arrested on suspicion of sexual offenses but the CPS had never pressed charges.

This included a 2010 rape involving a woman Alexander had spoken to online.

He took the victim back to an address in Tottenham where he raped her. At this point an investigation had been launched and he was arrested and questioned, however there was insufficient evidence to charge him with the crime at the time.

Alexander was also charged with sexual assault in Edmonton in 2017, in which he followed a woman he knew out of a store and attacked her behind a car before she managed to run away.

On this occasion he gave her his cell phone number so that the police could identify and arrest him shortly after the crime.

DC Mussington again handed both files over to the CPS, which this time agreed to charge him with both offences.

After a trial at Wood Green Crown Court in April, Alexander was found guilty of two counts of rape, one count of sexual assault by touching and one count of sexual activity with a child.

The judge said Alexander had engaged in “indiscriminate and unpredictable” sexual behavior and there was a risk of a repeat if he was not jailed for a lengthy period.

DC Mussington said: “Leon Alexander is a dangerous and opportunistic predator who targets a child and lonely women. He was extremely brazen in his crimes and carried out his assaults in the open where they could be seen by any passing member of the public.

“After the attacks he often tried to exchange messages with the victims and tried to have lighthearted conversations to give the impression that what had happened was consensual and not serious.

“The victims and witnesses in this investigation have been incredibly strong and it is thanks to them that Alexander has now been convicted. The gravity of his heinous crimes is reflected in this lengthy sentence.

She added: “We know that women and girls suffer significant harm every day, mostly at the hands of men. My priority – and that of all officers and staff – is to target those like Alexander who commit this type of violence.

“Anyone who is a victim or witness of a sexual assault should contact the police. There is zero tolerance for such serious crimes and we have specially trained officers who will listen and investigate if necessary.”