A black man dubbed the Night Stalker has been convicted of being one of the most prolific and depraved sex attackers in British history

Police apologized for botched chances to stop Delroy Grant, 53, earlier as he was found guilty of preying on the elderly in a campaign of perverted terror lasting 17 years. Former minicab driver Grant was responsible for some of the most awful and disturbing crimes ever investigated at Scotland Yard, senior detectives said. A jury at Woolwich Crown Court convicted him of claiming at least 18 victims - but it is feared the total may be more than 500. Between 1992 and 2009 the masked sexual predator preyed on frail men and women in south London and violated them in their homes, sometimes for several hours. Many of his victims - aged up to 89 - were blind, deaf or had conditions including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Grant subjected his vulnerable victims to humiliating and degrading sexual assaults for a gratification described in court as impossible to understand. Officers had been hunting the Night Stalker, under the codename Operation Minstead, since 1998 when two rapes were linked to the same attacker. Grant, of Brockley Mews, Honor Oak, eluded capture for years as the tally of victims linked to Minstead soared to 203.