Yesterday (27th June 2008) a jury at Exeter Crown Court returned a guilty verdict against Abdullah Al-Jaber on six counts of rape against two girls aged 16 and 18. During the trial the court heard that on the 6th August last year Abdullah Al-Jaber had threatened the two girls with a pair of scissors before subjecting them to a horrifying ordeal and raping each of them three times.

After the jury delivered their unanimous verdict, the court was told that Abdullah Al-Jaber had been allowed legal entry into this country from the US, despite a conviction of statutory rape in the US in 1999 – and despite also being wanted by police in the State of Georgia for allegedly raping a woman with learning difficulties in 2006.

It is noted that immediately after the attack the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary had provided descriptions of the attacker – descriptions that progressively (and confusingly) changed during the subsequent manhunt.

The attacker was originally described as “black or dark-skinned” (WMN, 7th August); then “tanned or dark-skinned – but not black” (WMN, 8th August); then “dark-skinned, of European appearance” (WMN, 10th August); and finally “of European appearance and very tanned” (WMN, 11th August).

This emphasis on the attacker’s ‘European’ appearance is quite bizarre. Unless, of course, we assume that Devon and Cornwall Police are so desperate to ensure that the victim’s first description of a “black or dark-skinned” man is not taken to mean ‘African’ or ‘Afro-Caribbean’ that they make sure the word ‘European’ is included in the description – but not ‘Middle Eastern’ or ‘Asian’ (of course).

Note: WMN = Western Morning News, a Westcountry regional newspaper.