Raymond Ellis: More jail for pervert snared by DNA decades on

Raymond Ellis was initially jailed for five years at Bristol Crown Court in May

A sex attacker who dodged justice for more than 30 years has had his sentence for brutally assaulting a teenage girl increased.

Raymond Ellis attacked the girl in Sheffield when she was aged 17 in 1987.

He went untraced for the crime, until a DNA swab was re-examined in 2019, which led to his arrest in Bristol.

Initially sentenced to five years for the attack, the Court of Appeal increased the 63-year-old's term to seven and a half years on Friday.

On the night of the attack 35 years ago, Ellis, now of Eastville in Bristol, hit the teenager over the head as she walked home after a night out.

He then dragged her along a nearby alleyway towards fields at the rear of Skinnerthorpe Road, where he tied her up and sexually assaulted her..

'A shell of herself'

DNA breakthroughs meant that decades later police were able to get a sample from the jacket the victim was wearing on the night she was attacked.

On Friday, the Attorney General argued the original punishment handed out to Ellis at Bristol Crown Court in May 2022 had been unduly lenient.

The Court of Appeal was told the attack had been "brutal" and had "blighted" the life of Ellis's victim.

The Court of Appeal heard the victim was now "a shell of herself"

Lady Justice Carr said "the conduct here was at the very highest level" for an indecent assault, as it was a sustained attack involving both the use and threat of violence.

The court was also told Ellis had previously attacked another girl in an alleyway and had been on probation for a burglary offence in 1986.

The victim had said the attack had "ruined her chances in life" and she was "now a shell of herself".

The original sentence was quashed and extended to seven and a half years

Ellis must also sign the sex offenders register for life.