Woman shares Edinburgh assault ordeal to find serial sex attacker
DNA breakthrough for police after Jenna Pike was attacked aged 16.
Last updated 4th Oct 2021
The victim of an assault in Edinburgh - which happened nine years ago - says she's saddened that her attacker went on to sexually assault two other women.
Jenna Pike came forward following an appeal earlier this year from police, which revealed they were treating a sexual assault and rape in the capital in 2015 as linked.
DNA advances have now confirmed the attack on her in 2012, when she was just 16, is also connected.
It happened on Colinton Road in the early hours of the 28th of October, 2012.
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Jenna told Radio Forth News: "I left with bruises on my neck and the trauma mentally. It makes me really sad this person went on to do far worse. He sexually assaulted someone, then went on to rape someone.
"I still to this day don't walk on my own. I hate being out on my own. I don't even really go out in the daytime on my own and if I do I am continually looking behind me.
"Being strangled, being sexually assaulted or, worse, being murdered is literally a daily fear for not only myself but for lots of other women across the country and across the world."
When asked how she felt upon finding out about what the perpetrator had gone on to do, she said: "Frustrated, angry, disappointed. I always hoped that he had stopped after what he had done to me, so to find out that actually all he's done is gone on and escalate makes me really frustrated."
Jenna is telling her story after an appeal from police earlier this year about the two attacks in 2015, which they had discovered were linked.
In the first a 21-year-old woman was sexually assaulted in Craiglockhart Quadrant on the 5th of August that year.
Just over three weeks later, a 19-year-old woman was raped in the Newmills Road area.
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Detective Inspector Jon Pleasance, the investigating officer for the renewed inquiries, said: “I want to sincerely thank Jenna for coming forward and helping us with our investigation, as well as for bravely speaking out.
“Using advanced DNA technology we’ve been able to review the forensics from Jenna’s case and determine that these attacks are all linked.
“It’s incredibly concerning that the man responsible was targeting lone women as far back as 2012, especially given what we know now.
“It leads me to believe, due the proximity of these incidents, that the answer may very well lie in the local community.
“Anyone who can help is strongly asked to come forward, no matter how small the information or their concerns may seem. We have the ability to very quickly rule people out of our investigation.”