Carl Royal, 'The Chiswick Rapist', Dies in Prison

Jailed for life after a series of attacks in the mid-nineties

Police were criticised for releasing Royal after his first attack. Picture: You Tube

Carl Royal, the serial sex offender whose attacks in the mid-1990s led to him being dubbed “The Chiswick Rapist”, has died in custody at the age of 57. A notice from the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman confirms that Royal died at HMP Wakefield on 24 November, with a formal investigation into the circumstances of his death now under way.

Royal was one of the most notorious offenders of the era committing his crimes against women over an eight-month period, and causing widespread fear across neighbourhoods including Chiswick, Hammersmith and surrounding areas. He was eventually arrested and convicted at the Old Bailey in 1996. He pleaded guilty to three rapes, six charges of indecent assault and two of burglary.

According to a report in the Hounslow Chronicle, Royal was arrested after his first rape which took place in Hammersmith, after he climbed through a woman’s bedroom window on 30 June 1995. He was apprehended a few days later following a burglary and remanded in custody but was released after a DNA sample proved inclusive and due to the victim incorrectly describing him as black.

Royal was a suspect because, at the time he was living in a hostel for recently released prisoners having previous convictions for sex offences including an attack on a 13-year-old girl. The police vehemently refuted claims in the press that Royal had been released due to delays in DNA testing.

Then on 7 January 1996, he pulled a woman into a garden on Heathfield Terrace and raped her. Three days later he followed a 26-year-old woman who had left Turnham Green station, pulling her into a garden on The Avenue and raping her. At the trial, the court was told he held a knife to his victim’s neck saying, "Do you feel this. Don't make any noise if you want to remain pretty" but then later expressed regret for what he had done and begged her not to go to the police, giving her a gold chain and pendant, which ultimately provided evidence used to convict him.

He struck again, sexually assaulting a woman in Shepherd’s Bush after which he was arrested at his home in Sycamore Gardens off the Goldhawk Road with police having gathered sufficient evidence to link him to all the attacks.

He was not charged with a third Chiswick rape which took place on 10 November 1995 on Rusthall Avenue which had originally been attributed to him.

According to reporting in the Daily Mirror from the time, Royal told officers that he was high on drink and drugs during the attacks and that he was disgusted at what he had done. The newspaper described him as a “rapist who wanted to be caught”, noting that he had expressed resignation about the likelihood of his arrest.

He received three life sentences, reflecting both the gravity of the crimes and the risk he was judged to pose to the public. He was subsequently held in high-security conditions, including at HMP Wakefield, one of the country’s most secure prisons for high-risk offenders.

Royal later brought a number of legal challenges while in custody, including a judicial review application in 2007 concerning professional assessments made about him, but these did not affect the length of his sentence.

As with all deaths in custody, an independent investigation is now under way to establish the circumstances and ensure that procedures were properly followed.