In 1977, Denis Coles, then aged 26, committed a horrific rape against an 11-year-old girl in Cardiff, Wales. The incident occurred as the victim, known publicly as 'Michelle' to protect her anonymity, was walking home from Girl Guides. Coles approached her on a bicycle, asking for the time, before grabbing her shoulder, dragging her away, and subjecting her to sexual assault in a secluded lane. He then instructed her to count to 50 before fleeing the scene on his bike. The girl immediately ran home and informed her mother, but the case remained unsolved for decades despite initial investigations, including the wrongful arrest and acquittal of another man.
The crime was reopened as a cold case in 2019 by South Wales Police, who employed advanced DNA techniques to re-examine forensic samples from the victim's clothing. Tapings preserved from the scene were matched against the national DNA database, yielding a match to Coles with a probability of at least one in a billion. At the time of identification, Coles was 73 and residing in a care home in Cardiff. Due to his deteriorating mental health, he was deemed unfit to plead or stand trial in the conventional sense.
Instead, a 'trial of the facts' was conducted at Cardiff Crown Court earlier in 2024, where a jury determined that Coles had indeed committed the acts alleged, without delivering a guilty verdict. Sentencing took place on Thursday, 12 September 2024, before Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke, the Recorder of Cardiff. The judge emphasised the severity of the offence, stating that had Coles been fit to plead, he would have received a substantial custodial sentence despite his age and limited mobility. She noted, 'There is no doubt that if the defendant had been fit to plead, even at his age, he would have received a very substantial custodial sentence.'
Recognising the presence of other residents and potential child visitors at Coles' care home, Judge Lloyd-Clarke imposed a two-year supervision order to be overseen by the probation service. Coles was also ordered to sign the sex offenders register. The victim's impact statement, read in court, highlighted the profound trauma endured: 'The night I was raped was the most traumatic of my life, I was just 11 years old... This is something that I should never have to put into writing.' Michelle described how the attack stole her childhood, leading to lifelong mental health struggles and restrictions on her freedom, as her family 'wrapped [her] up in cotton wool' out of fear.
The case underscores advancements in forensic science enabling justice in historical sexual offences, as reported by ITV News Wales. Newspaper coverage from 1977, revisited in the article, captured the initial shock of the unsolved attack in the local community.