Martin Clunes is back as Detective Colin Sutton, who tracks down depraved rapist Delroy Grant in Manhunt: The Night Stalker.
ITV’s 2019 series of Manhunt followed the investigation into the murder of Amelie Delagrange.
Both dramas are based on the detective’s own diaries.
Nine million viewers watched DCI Sutton tracking down serial killer Levi Bellfield.
Manhunt series two will follow his investigation into hundreds of rapes committed by Delroy Grant.
He left elderly people living in fear for decades.
Read more: Manhunt 2: When does Martin Clunes ITV drama begin and who’s in the cast?
Manhunt Delroy Grant: Who is he?
Delroy Easton Grant, now 64, is a Jamaican convicted serial rapist.
Police also called him the Minstead Rapist and also the Night Stalker.
In 1998, the Metropolitan Police launched the Operation Minstead team to investigate the crimes.
At the time, the operation was the biggest rape investigation ever undertaken by the Metropolitan Police.
How many victims?
Depraved rapist Delroy Grant committed around 600 attacks in South East London over a 17 year period.
In the early 1990s he began breaking into his elderly victims homes in the dead of night.
His attacked women between 68 and 93, and even targeted 10 men.
One 93-year-old victim, partially-sighted Cynthia Stephens, died three months later.
Her family said she “had lost the will to live”.
Many of Delroy Grant’s victims were already in poor health or suffering from mental illness.
One woman, who suffered from osteoarthritis, had such severe injuries to her waist and hips she required major surgery.
Police suspect the humber of his victims to be closer to 600.
Read more: This Morning: Martin Clunes swears as Phillip Schofield apologises
What was Delroy Grant’s MO?
Rapist Delroy Grant broke into his victims homes by smashing a window or removing a pane of glass and wore a balaclava and gloves.
He would switch off the electricity and rip out the phone lines, before carrying out horrific acts of violence.
Victims told how Manhunt monster Delroy Grant would talk to them in a soft whisper and even softly kiss them.
Your utter depravity knows no bounds.
Occasionally he even left without assaulting them and often stole belongings.
Profilers believed that, despite a sexual obsession with elderly people, he was ashamed of his actions.
Delroy Grant even apologised to one victim, telling her: “I’m sorry. I won’t ever do this again.”
Manhunt Delroy Grant: How was he caught?
Police set up a dedicated unit in 1998 to catch the monster behind the rapes, assaults and burglaries.
DCI Simon Morgan led the enquiry, which was codenamed operation Minstead.
A series of police blunders in 1999 meant Delroy Grant evaded capture for a further decade, attacking around 140 more people.
As the investigation continued to draw blanks, the Night Stalker returned with a vengeance from May 2008.
Over the next 16 months, the total number of his known crimes almost doubled.
He was finally seen on camera in August 2009 after he had burgled an 88 year-old Polish man in Thornton Heath.
He used the victim’s cashcard at an ATM but entered the wrong PIN.
Two months later, he used the same ATM after the burglary of an elderly woman.
In October 2009, the MET flooded Shirley in south London, one of the Night Stalker’s favourite areas, with 70 undercover officers.
Police finally arrested Delroy Grant as he committed another burglary in the early hours of Sunday November 15, 2009.
When they searched his Vauxhall Zafira they found the Night Stalker’s rape kit – a grey balaclava, a blue cagole, a grey fleece and crow bar.
Many who knew him were shocked and described him as a loving family man.
Where is Delroy Grant now?
In March 2011, a jury found Delroy Grant guilty on all counts – including four rapes and seven indecent assaults dating back to 1992.
The judge sentenced him to four life sentences and ordered him to serve a minimum of 27 years in prison.
Judge Peter Rook QC told him: “Your utter depravity knows no bounds.”
Delroy Grant is imprisoned at HM Prison Belmarsh.
When is Manhunt: The Night Stalker on TV?
Viewers can see Martin Clunes reprise his Manhunt role as DCI Sutton on Monday September 20 2021.
Silent Witness writer Ed Whitmore wrote Manhunt 2: The Night Stalker – who also penned the first series.
Executive producer Philippa Braithwaite said: “We are very pleased that ITV have given us the opportunity to dramatise another important case that Colin Sutton was involved in.
“This inquiry has a very different emphasis to the Bellfield case.
“The victims were elderly and the crimes were unsolved for many years.
“The drama explores how Colin came late to the inquiry and helped solve it in a matter of weeks, taking an incredibly dangerous serial rapist off the streets.”
Manhunt The Night Stalker starts on Monday September 2021 at 9pm on ITV1.
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