Man who tried to rape woman in 1992 traced and jailed

A man who attacked and tried to rape a 74‑year‑old woman in 1992 has been jailed after he was traced following a chance DNA breakthrough.

Aron Traynor, now 56, was arrested in 2023 after he had been detained for drink-drinking a few months earlier, when he was asked to provide a DNA sample.

It matched evidence gathered at the time of the attack on the woman in Stockport, Greater Manchester, 34 years ago, with police at the time failing to track down a suspect.

Traynor went on trial and was earlier jailed for 13 years after being convicted of attempted rape and violent indecent assault at Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court.

Then aged 22, the court heard he was not known to the victim, who has since died.

The attack left its mark on her, according to her son, who said she experienced "devastating and lasting" consequences.

A Greater Manchester Police said Traynor's conviction followed "advances in forensic science that allowed evidence from 1992 to be re‑examined".

Officers commissioned extra forensic analysis in 2005, which led to a "near‑complete DNA profile that was added to the national DNA database, but no match was found at that time", the force said.

But the breakthrough came when Traynor was arrested for drink-driving, and he was convicted following the trial in March.

Det Ch Insp Cheryl Hughes said: "Time is quite simply no barrier to justice.

"Offenders should be in no doubt that forensic science continues to advance, and every interaction they have with the criminal justice system increases the chance of their crimes being uncovered."

She thanked the woman's relatives for their cooperation, adding: "Although the victim sadly has not lived to see justice served, I hope this sentence gives her family a sense of peace that the offender has been held accountable."

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