A Bradford rapist has been jailed for life for the violent abuse of women between 1985 and 2001.
Andrew Delsol, 55, of no fixed abode, was sentenced to life in prison at Bradford Crown Court yesterday after he was convicted of 11 offences, including four offences of rape, a Section 18 wounding, living on the earnings of prostitution, two offences of making a threat to kill, two offences of indecent assault and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
Following his sentencing Delsol threatened one of his victims, who gave evidence without screens around the witness box, claiming he would “murder her”.
Throughout the two-week trial, one woman told how she was beaten and raped by Delsol when she was a teenage sex worker in Bradford and explained how he would force her to earn £100 per day to give to him.
The court also heard how he violently assaulted a second woman, beating her about the head with a hairbrush and stabbing her in the leg with a screwdriver. It was also heard how he poured petrol on her before flicking a lighter and threatening to kill her.
Delsol’s previous offences saw him jailed for 13 years in 2015 for falsely imprisoning a woman in his attic flat in Gaythorne Road, West Bowling, over a four-month period.
He was previously jailed for eight years at Carlisle Crown Court in 2002 after constant, violent abuse of his then-teenage girlfriend.
He held her captive for six days, smashing her nose with his hand till the bone cracked, knifing her in the neck, kicking and punching her stomach, hurling her head-first into a wall, beating her with a length of wood and threatening her with an axe, saying he would use it to dismember her.
Speaking after the sentencing, the officer in the case Detective Constable Andrew Ellis, of Bradford District Crimes Investigation Department, said: “Delsol is clearly a very dangerous man and I hope the sentence he has received today will be of some comfort to his victims.
“I would like to thank them for their courage in testifying against someone who subjected them to sexual abuse and violence.
“I also hope it encourages other victims of historic sexual offences to contact their local Safeguarding Unit, whose specially trained officers will investigate every report and provide support for the victims so perpetrators like Delsol can be brought to justice.”
Delsol was sentenced to life in prison for his crimes and must serve a minimum of nine years before he can even be considered for release by the Parole Board.
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