Decades-Old Rapes Solved After Man Pees on Neighbor's Plant

A man who raped two women at knifepoint in Britain avoided capture for over 30 years. Then he peed on his neighbor's potted plant. The BBC reports a 21-year-old woman was raped by a man while walking alone in 1983. An 18-year-old woman was raped in a similar situation five years later. The cases remained unsolved and unconnected until 60-year-old Eric McKenna was arrested in 2016 after getting in a dispute with his neighbor that culminated in him urinating in one of her potted plants, according to the Press Association. McKenna was given a warning for harassment and a DNA sample was taken. It was an exact match for samples recovered following both rapes.

McKenna was arrested and charged with the rapes last year, Chronicle Live reports. He was sentenced to prison on Friday. "McKenna thought he had got away with his crimes, but a neighborly dispute and a moment of stupidity has landed him in prison for 23 years," Metro quotes Detective Constable Mick Wilson as saying. Wilson says McKenna has "failed to show a glimmer of remorse" for his crimes. As for the neighbor whose plant got peed on, she tells Chronicle Live: “I felt physically sick when I found out what he’d done ... I’m so glad I reported him and these women have got justice." (DNA on a Coke can unraveled a teen's 1989 murder.)