‘Cowardly’ rapist on run after mistaken jail release sentenced to 18 years | UK | News

A “cowardly” rapist who was mistakenly released from prison and escaped has been sentenced to 18 years in prison in his absence. Bernadin Dedic, 48, was convicted last month of repeatedly raping a woman whom he held at knifepoint and threatened to kill her in a difficult process that lasted for hours.

Dedic was detained at HMP Wormwood Scrubs ahead of his trial, but was mistakenly released in February after a court official mistakenly recorded that he had been granted bail. After his release, Dedic traveled to his native Bosnia and refused to return to England to attend his trial. The court heard evidence that Dedic drank wine and snorted cocaine before holding the victim at knifepoint, cutting off her clothes and threatening to kill her and herself. On Friday Dedic was sentenced in absentia at Isleworth Crown Court, with Judge Hannah Duncan saying he “refused to return to the UK for his sentence, just as he refused to return to the UK for his trial”.

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