A judge has ordered convicted rapist Bernadin Dedic to come back to Britain after travelling to his native country, after he was accidently released from prison
Dedic was found guilty despite his absence(Image: Metropolitan Police/PA Wire)
A rapist is still on the run after being released from prison by accident five months ago.
A judge has ordered Bernadin Dedic, 48, back to Britain after the convicted rapist spent five months on the run following a court blunder that saw him wrongly released from HMP Wormwood Scrubs.
Just hours after being mistakenly freed in February, Dedic boarded a Eurostar out of the UK and fled to his native country Bosnia and Herzegovina. Despite police seizing his UK passport during the investigation, he was able to travel using his Bosnian passport. Since then, he has repeatedly claimed he could not return to Britain, citing visa issues, a skiing accident, health problems and a fear of flying.
But yesterday, Judge Hannah Duncan ordered that a message be sent to both Dedic and his brother instructing him to return to the UK for sentencing. She said: “Sentencing is going to take place on 24 July and he is required to attend it and surrender to custody on that date.”
Dedic was wrongly released from remand after an official at Isleworth Crown Court mixed up case files following a hearing, and mistakenly concluded he had been granted bail. He claimed he immediately told officers a mistake had been made and even asked to remain in custody.
He said: “They told me I was released. I said: ‘Let me stay the weekend, this is a mistake.’ But they pushed me out.”
He told PA on his release he had contacted his lawyers and spoke to friends, who he claimed advised him to leave the country because “you don’t have a fair trial, go away and try from there”. He also claimed his legal team had previously failed to secure bail despite offering an £80,000 surety.
While Dedic denied the offences and had been due to stand trial in March, he later claimed through his lawyers that visa issues prevented him returning to the UK. After those problems were resolved, he said a skiing injury meant he could not fly. Ahead of the rearranged trial in June, Dedic then claimed he suffered chest pains on the way to the airport.
Last month in a phone call, the convicted rapist reportedly said he did not intend to return to the UK after claiming his trial had not been fair. He claims he now suffers a condition that stops him from being in enclosed spaces such as aeroplanes. But, he suggested he would be prepared to drive to the UK, on the basis he is granted a second trial.
Despite his absence, he was found guilty of four counts of rape, two counts of sexual assault by penetration, causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent, threatening a person with a knife in a private place, and making threats to kill.
Dedic lured the woman into the basement of his home in Ealing, west London, where he threatened her with a knife and warned he would kill her if she screamed. He then cut off her clothes before repeatedly raping and sexually assaulting her over several hours, the court heard.
He carried out the attacks after separating from his wife while heavily drinking and taking cocaine.
His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service has launched an investigation into how Dedic was mistakenly released. A spokesperson said: “We understand the distress errors such as this can cause to those affected and instances like this have exposed deep-rooted issues across the broken justice system the government inherited.”
