Hopes TV show about Peterborough rapist will identify more victims
An investigation into France, 34, began when a young woman contacted police in August 2024 to say she had been raped.During a search of France's home, officers found several hidden cameras that had captured more than 6,000 disturbing images and videos.Three other victims were then told that unbeknown to them they also had been filmed.Due to the amount of footage and the nature of France's offending, officers have said it was possible there were more victims yet to be identified.
Speaking to the BBC, Det Ch Insp Tebbit said: "I don't think we will ever fully understand how many victims there are of Craig France. But I do think that there are likely more victims out there."The first woman who contacted police had been abused several years previously, said the detective, and she urged any victims to contact the police."I hope that anyone watching the programme sees that we have a team of specially trained officers who who will work tirelessly to ensure we do the very best for victims of serious sexual violence and hopefully that comes across," she said.
The TV programme tells the inside story of the investigation into France who police believed has preyed on dozens of women. The control room is seen receiving a distressing 999 call from a young woman who believed she was raped two years previously. The suspect, Craig France, is not known to the police but has a reputation across Peterborough's nightclub scene, and for the notorious hot-tub afterparties he has hosted at his house.Simon Ford, executive producer of 24 Hours in Police Custody, said: "This is a really disturbing case, but a really important one. "It throws a kind of really sharp light on one how difficult it can be to prosecute rapes and how impressive the Cambridgeshire rape investigation team are. "In a world where we all know that rape prosecutions have crashed, and nationally, it's eally good to see them taking very, very seriously this important case."
'Shocking case'
Mr Ford believed the investigation also revealed more about misogyny in society and "the way men behave and what's acceptable in our culture"."There were people in his social group who actually saw videos of some of the things he did and didn't report it to the police," he said."So I think it's a really shocking case."There are possibly hundreds of women across Cambridgeshire who have come across this man and may well have been filmed against their permission without them knowing."
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