when BATMAN rapist will go down like EAR?

[sammyt]

Aug 13, 2020 17:27:43 GMT pod said:

Don't know much about this case so forgive me if I'm stating the bleeding obvious!

Some notes I made looking at the vids and locations on googlemaps: There was usually empty ground of some sort near the attack/abduction sites. Fields/foliage/allotments etc. In essence, places he could hang around observing and waiting for a potential victim to appear. The streets where he attacked often had heavy foliage on one side rather than other houses, making them fairly hidden from observers.

Driving victims back to the abduction site is curious. If he's going back to retrieve his own car, why not leave the victims at the rape site? Was it his way of alleviating the crime in his own mind? Did he justify his actions after the fact by saying he cared enough to bring them home? It makes me think this guy isn't some street thug but may have been raised in a decent household. Or at least his actions pricked his conscience to an extent, after the fact of course!

The other thing that caught my eye was the Avon Canal very close to the main attack area. Those houseboats in particular. All attacks there were within walking distance with a nice wooded area inbetween. (A bit like EAR and drainage ditches.) In some of the attacks where he drove back to the abduction site I wondered if he didn't actually have his own car. Might he have lived on one of those boats at the time? Because the attacks occurred over years with large gaps inbetween his circumstances likely changed.

FWIW

I'm sure he found suitable places to lurk pre-attack, but a lot of the attacks seem more spontaneous than most of JJD's IMO.

He quite possibly targeted areas rather than specific victims.  The age of the victims is widespread.  Apparently he didn't have a 'type'.

I doubt if he lived in one of the boats.  I think he drove away from the immediate area after the crimes, avoiding the police investigation ala JJD.

As for his reasons for driving victims back to Bath, I agree with murderinc.  BR was a highly organised and experienced offender.  Perhaps he had some additional personal reasons for keeping the victims with him for longer than absolutely necessary, but I think it was mainly to avoid the risk of the car being flagged down if a victim got loose.

[sammyt]

I'm thinking that this case is pretty complicated and needs it's own featured case section, with subsections.

This case is like EARONS and I reckon people are going to get interested in this one.

Years of searching for EAR have given us a unique insight into such offenders.

Online sleuthing didn't get JJD in the end, but we can get this scumbag.

The original investigation was too focused on Bath suspects, just like the EAR case was too focused on suspects living near the early attacks.

[sammyt]

Aug 13, 2020 21:57:57 GMT pod said:

Albion,

Great questions. The answer to a couple are in the videos. No mention of alcohol or slurred speech But at least one victim said he had a local accent, presumably local to Bath. Another mentioned that when he abducted her and drove her away, he forced her head down into his lap. She said he didn't smell of sweat and his trousers didn't smell of soap powder.

The recreations don't indicate it was raining or any particular weather conditions. I'm not sure if tights were out of fashion at that time. However, on one occasion at least, he actually brought with him a new pair of tights and told the victim to put them on, and she was to make sure she didn't tear them doing so. His 'thing' appeared to be to tear them himself when the girl was wearing them.

I wouldn't be surprised if he grew up in Bath but (like JJD) returned to his comfort zone from afar.

It would explain how a man of average height and build with blue eyes avoided being one of the 2,000 men who were DNA tested.

And perhaps also why none of the 25,000 leaflets distributed reached a women who recognised the tights fetish (of course such offenders may not even share their fetishes with their wives anyway but that's another issue).

I think his priority was to attack in the darkness (whether 5pm or 2am).  Other than severe snow, which is rare, I don't think any UK weather conditions would really altered his evil plans.

[sammyt]

Compared to many of us on the board, 1990s detective Paul James is fairly naive about such offenders.

The investigation was handled in the same 'local resident done it' approach as EAR.

[sammyt]

The Batman Rapist wasn't as careful as JJD in terms of forensics.

Very cunning in so many ways, yet he left DNA evidence.

JJD didn't know about DNA in 1986. Surely the BR knew of DNA by 1991.

Or was the BR someone who was just extremely confident he wouldn't ever be DNA tested?

Even if he is, he must be crapping himself if he follows how crimes are generally solved these days.

[albion]

One of the initial problems I have is the name... Every search for info brings up the character "batman" in abundance. As much as people didnt like GSK, it did separate him from the nightstalker. It probably didnt hurt Glaxo-Smith-Kline all that much. Maybe they could change the name to the A36 rapist?

Has the DNA profile been shared to the US or countries?

Batman Forever is a forgetable movie to me. I had to look it up to remember Val Kilmer starred. But I guess your age and the type of movies you like would help create your feelings about the character. Not that it is something important to the rapist.

When I initially think of Batman, I go back to the 60's TV show. There were a lot of "tights" in that show. I remember the show would air after school, and the daycare I was at, which had about 20 or 30 kids, would let us vote to see if enough people wanted to watch it. That was in second grade for. Looking back at that show as an adult, it does seem to have some creepy imaging and plots. The idea that Batman was looking into all these windows as he climbed the buildings, how these grotesque individuals were always tying him up and trying to hurt him, and maybe the idea that "batman" wasnt "Batman" until he put his costume on. It makes me wonder if voyeurism was one of his hobbies as well.

If the guy didnt live in Bath, I wonder what would make him drive from Bristol, or through Bristol to get to Bath. If he knew as a kid, or worked there, then he didnt like the place? Or he did like it and maybe had his first sexual encounter there? I dont have any notion of Bath, so I have nothing to judge it by. For me, when I think of Las Vegas, I think of losing money at Blackjack, drinking free Johnny Walker Black, and waking up at the crack of noon and having breakfast. But I guess others think of Las Vegas differently. Did he view Bath as some here might view Padre Island during spring break? Did he go to school there as a youth? How did he learn the rural areas if so?

The one victim described him as being "well scrubbed." So no tobacco smoke, scented laundry detergent, smell of labor, smell from shoes or socks, aftershave, etc? IMO, maybe someone whose job is formal, little stress, but still meticulous about things. My first thoughts are someone who is part of the clergy, or a student/grad student/ professor. Especially someone in civil engineering or architecture. I read up on the university there. As well as the top ten things to do in Bath. It seems to me that both the clergy and the schools would lend to a person being gone for months or years and then returning. It also seems as if the winter months are the most important.

1. Roman Baths
2. Thermae Bath Spa
3. Museums
4. Bath Abbey Tour
5. Jane Austen Centre
6. Bath Skyline Walk
7. Pump Room Restaurant
8. Bath Buns
9. Architectural tour
10. Festivals

The Royal Crescent, the Circus, and Pulteney Bridge are also something to see. There is so much history in this town. (If I dont get anything else from this, just reading about Bath has been interesting)

I am guessing he lived in more places in the UK by his lack of a distinguishing accent. Also that he was familiar with right side vehicles and a clutch.

I wonder if he could have been a student at the University and staying at student housing. That might have given him free time to roam the countryside a bit.

I also wonder if maybe he abducted Ms Hall only to find out she knew him, or recognized him, or had some connection in which they might see each other again, and then he couldnt have let her go. Again he could have been someone from the hospital or her school. The hospital might have the type of person to be "well scrubbed". But I wouldnt think someone in that line of work would have the time. What is the chance that he could have abducted someone who knew him? With a population of 80,000. Half female. Half between the ages of 16 to 36? A smaller percentage to account for the specific area he would lurk? An area the he knew and also an area that quite possibly knew him. And also an area that women he targeted would be. (I dont think we are talking about women who led a dangerous lifestyle. These victims did not seem to consider themselves vulnerable.)

Still leaning to architecture or engineering and wondering if there were any schools, projects or firms in Kingswood that he might have been attending.

I am also wondering if LE has given the DNA to Ancestry professionals yet. I know it works because I had two adoptions in my tree, and through Ancestry and 23andMe, I was able to solve who was part of my DNA ancestry. It took me a year or so to solve it, but I think the professionals could do it in less than a month. The neat thing is, for the LE that does release it, like Holes did, they might end up getting their own TV show.

[murderinc]

in the crime where Batman attacked the woman in the carport, this definitely looks like a pre-planned assault where Batman was stalking the victim and not a crime of opportunity

[sammyt]

Aug 14, 2020 16:11:05 GMT murderinc said:

in the crime where Batman attacked the woman in the carport, this definitely looks like a pre-planned assault where Batman was stalking the victim and not a crime of opportunity

He may have spent hours and hours watching the homes of some his targets... just like JJD did.

I don't think he could have known that victim #1 would have returned home early from her night shift job though.

Maybe he followed her home one day, learned her general routine and then waited it out for a suitable opportunity.

The same could be true in attack #3 where he ambushed the woman who was parking after returning home.

He could have hidden across the canal and peeped on her home for a long time.

He also warned victim #3 after the attack that he knew where she lived: 'don't call the police or I'll burn your house down'.  

[sammyt]

Why did the Batman Rapist change from attacks in the early hours to attacks in the early evening?

Had his personal circumstances changed? Was he no longer able to go out at night?

Or did he realise that late night recon and attacks were too risky once his MO was known in Bath?

Or did he have insider knowledge that the police were patrolling more at night?

I've been to Bath and it's busy during the day, but away from the centre it's a bit of a ghost town at night.

[sammyt]

Aug 14, 2020 22:58:38 GMT pod said:

1996 Sydney Mews, failed attack. Half an hour later he attacks in Rosemount Lane.

1999 Beckford Gardens, failed attack. Twenty minutes later he attacks in Prior Park Road.

Three years separate these attacks yet if you check the locations of each incident they are mirror images. More an more I'm convinced that canal plays an important part in his movements. It's a straight walk down the tow-path, avoiding any pesky patrol cars and everything else.

He could also have used one canal as a safe place for recon/peeping with victim 3 in 1994.  He attacked the victim when she returned home at night and was parking her car.

[pod]

That's what I thought too. There's a nice area of foliage inbetween the canal and her house. Perfect for a predator lying in wait.

[sammyt]

Aug 14, 2020 23:32:38 GMT pod said:

That's what I thought too. There's a nice area of foliage inbetween the canal and her house. Perfect for a predator lying in wait.

He pretty much told victim 3 that he knew where she lived.  Threatening that he'd burn her house down if she called the police.

I wonder what jobs victims 1 and 3 did.  Victim 1 worked some sort of night shift.  Did the rapist know that these women would be arriving home in the early hours?

Was he hiding and waiting for hours like JJD did?

[sammyt]

Great work pod. I wish we knew where the 6 other BR attacks (the ones not reported by victims at the time) fit into the series.

[albion]

For the crime there on Lodgeside in Kingswood, was the hospital there back then? Is that the right spot?

If one does a google search for nurses uniforms during the 70's and 80' and 90's, there are numerous pics of nurses wearing skirts and white tights. Did LE ever give a description of the color of the tights either the victims were wearing, or that he brought with him? Would that be enough for him to lose control of his fetish urges?

Would a medical worker be able to alter his "official medical file"? If so, the DNA might never make a match. Only a wide DNA relative search would work. Also, a medical person, or anyone, might have had plastic surgery to fix the scar on his face.

There are places in my local city that I know how to drive to and home from, but get a mile off my route, and I could get lost easily. And with all the old roads and things in the UK, I could see that happening too. If true, would that rule out Bristol as a place he lived?

Here is the travel info to get here from Bath specifically as per the hospital webpage.

"From Bath

A4 London Road, take the first exit off the roundabout on to the A46 (slip road).
Follow the A46 and take the first available exit off the roundabout on to the A420 (London Road).
At the mini roundabout turn left on to the A420 (London Road).
Take second available exit off roundabout on to A420 Deanery Road and then turn left onto A470 Hanham Road.
Turn right on to the A470 Cecil Road.
Take fourth available exit on to A420 Two Mile Hill Road.
Take second available right on to A4017 Soundwell Road and follow B4048 Lodge Road."

[sammyt]

We need to find out if victim #1 was a nurse. She was attacked after leaving early from her night shift job.