Overview
- David Hill, 75, was convicted and sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court for raping a woman at knifepoint in an underground car park after she left Josephine’s nightclub on 7 September 1985.
- The cold case was reopened in 2021 after re-testing a clothing sample produced a full DNA profile that a scientist said was one billion times more likely to be Hill’s than anyone else’s.
- Hill was arrested in March 2022 and denied the allegation, saying he could not recall his whereabouts that night while acknowledging he frequented Josephine’s and had casual sexual encounters.
- Prosecutors secured hearsay admission of the victim’s 1985 statement and presented her later medical records along with supporting witness testimony to establish the case.
- South Yorkshire Police’s major incident review team led the renewed investigation, and the victim’s brother told the court he believes the assault contributed to her early death in the late 1990s.