A man has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for two counts of rape after an investigation by Met detectives.
Rashane Lee, 26, of Old Kent Road, Southwark, claimed that the DNA found by police and then, after forensic analysis, proved to be his, had changed. He also claimed that evidential samples had been either contaminated or faulty.
Detective Constable Jack Woods, who led the investigation, said, “This verdict is testament to the bravery of the victim whose evidence helped us secure this conviction.
“Despite farcical claims by Lee that the DNA secured was either contaminated or simply not his, the jury saw through this, and this resulted in today’s lengthy sentence.
“Lee is an extremely dangerous individual who deliberately targeted a lone woman and hoped that because she had had a few drinks she would be too confused to come forward to police. This was not the case and despite his arrogance, there was no doubt to his guilt.
“We hope that this result demonstrates that no matter the circumstances, we will always take victim-survivors accounts extremely seriously, and do all we can to ensure that predators, like Lee, are taken off the streets.”
The court heard how, on 1 June 2024, the victim-survivor had been out for the day in Central London with her sister and friends. Lee approached her as she made her way home shortly after 11:00 p.m.
He began to talk to her and offered to accompany her home as they lived, he claimed, in a similar direction. The victim-survivor attempted to dissuade him. However, he persisted before taking her to a secluded area and raping her.
After reporting the incident to the police, officers quickly searched through CCTV footage in an attempt to track the suspect. Forensic analysis found a match for Rashane Lee, with a probability of one billion to one.
Following this, Lee was quickly found by officers at his partner’s home address and arrested on 11 June 2024.
Despite the weight of DNA evidence, in an interview, Lee strongly denied the allegation of rape, claiming that samples were faulty or contaminated in the lab. Lee also claimed that his DNA must have changed and that he had never even met the victim.
Despite this, he was charged on 12 June 2024 and, following a trial at Inner London Crown Court, was found guilty on 23 December 2024 after less than two hours of deliberation.
At the time of his arrest, Lee was on the registered sexual offender list. He pleaded guilty to breaking its conditions. He had been convicted of rape in 2016 in circumstances that were almost identical to the incident in June. Monitoring of Lee was led by the Probation Service and the Met Jigsaw team also monitored him in a limited capacity.
Lee was released from prison in September 2022. As well as receiving a 13-year custodial sentence, Lee will also see his licence extended by seven years.
