Predator dubbed the ‘Coronation Street rapist’ is dead: Serial attacker, 69, who terrorised the North in the 1980s dies behind bars

Serial sex predator Andrew Davies, dubbed the ‘Coronation Street rapist’, has died in prison.

Davies, formerly known as Andrew Barlow and Andrew Longmire, was given 13 life sentences for his crimes of terrorizing the north of England in the 1980s.

The serial rapist from Bolton attacked mainly in Greater Manchester, but also offended in four other boroughs; He often targeted women alone in their terraced houses in the morning after waiting for their husbands or fathers to leave the property.

Davies was released in 2023 after serving 34 years, but was recalled to prison after just six weeks.

Davies, 69, is understood to have died of natural causes about two weeks ago.

One of Barlow’s victims, who was raped at knifepoint in her own bed in 1987, told the Manchester Evening News today: ‘It’s a relief but it’s not. I still experience what they did to me. ‘It’s a very difficult feeling to deal with.’

A Prison Service spokesman said: ‘These were despicable crimes and our thoughts are with Andrew Davies’ victims.’

Following his release, the predator was taken to the boarding house where probation services were provided by a police escort on March 6, 2023, but was sent back to prison due to his violation of license conditions and behavior. At that time, it was assessed that the risk it posed was not manageable in society.

Serial sex attacker Andrew Davies, dubbed the ‘Coronation Street’ rapist, was once Britain’s most wanted man

Davies objected to his recall at a hearing in June 2024. In July of the same year, it was announced that his application was rejected by the parole board.

A panel decided he ‘currently poses a very high risk of contact sexual offending’. He added: ‘The risk of serious harm to other people was assessed to be very high.’

Davies was detained at HMP Moorland, a category C prison near Doncaster. A spokesman for the prison service said: ‘Andrew Davies, formerly known as Andrew Barlow and Andrew Longmire, died on 28 February 2026.

‘As with all deaths in custody, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will investigate.’

The prospect of his release has angered his victims and their families, who campaigned to keep him behind bars with the help of former Manchester MP Graham Stringer.

A relative of one of his victims told the Manchester Evening News in 2024: ‘There was a parole hearing in relation to his recall last year after spending just six weeks in the community after breaching some of the 32 license conditions granted to him. He is an unchanging insecure rapist in my eyes.’

Barlow’s release was delayed after then-Justice Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab asked the Parole Board to reconsider its decision.

Mr Raab described Barlow’s crimes as ‘despicable’ and said in January 2023: ‘My thoughts remain with the victims of Andrew Barlow, whose despicable crimes devastated the lives of dozens of women.

Davies was released on parole in March 2023, despite then-Justice Secretary Dominic Raab trying to stop his release by describing his crimes as ‘despicable’.

‘Protecting the public is my number one priority, which is why I’ve asked the Parole Board to reconsider the release decision and I’m overhauling the parole system to keep prisoners who pose a risk to the public off our streets.’

Following Barlow’s swift return to prison in April 2023, Mr Stringer said: ‘This is extraordinary. I think this is another failure by the Parole Board to use common sense and protect the public from a very dangerous man.

‘They were warned by me and the victims. ‘This is institutional failure of the highest order.’

A relative of a woman whom Barlow raped in her own home in Greater Manchester in 1987 said in May 2023 after the Manchester Evening News broke the news that he had been recalled to prison: ‘I took it on the chin in January and decided to move on with my life when Barlow was released – now this animal is back in our lives. We told the authorities, but they didn’t listen.

‘Someone has to answer for this. This will mean that all the victims and their families will relive the pain as we tried in vain to prevent his release in January.

‘We told the authorities he was a very high risk and we were proven right.’

The daughter of a woman whose mother was raped by Barlow in Greater Manchester in the early 1980s said: ‘I was shocked to hear he was being recalled so quickly.

‘But it doesn’t surprise me when I think about how evil and twisted he was when he committed his crimes.

The cold cases were eventually solved thanks to advances in DNA technology that linked Davies (pictured) to the crimes.

‘When the victim support worker said I had goosebumps all over my body and then my eyes were swollen with tears, I was thinking who was he attacking this time?

‘The officer told me he had not harmed anyone but his behavior meant he was sent back to prison immediately. I’m glad he’s being monitored so closely as his behavior could escalate no matter what.’

Barlow was sentenced to 11 life terms in prison for raping 11 women in 1988 and 56 years in prison for other crimes.

In 2010 and 2017, he received two more life sentences after rapes he committed in 1981 and 1982, which were linked to him due to advances in DNA technology.

In any case, only two more years were added to his sentence, as he had already exceeded the 20-year tariff imposed in 1988.

He has been dubbed the ‘Coronation Street rapist’ because most of the victims were attacked in their terraced homes in the north of England and the majority lived in Manchester.

He also struck in Cheshire, Staffordshire, Lancashire and South Yorkshire in the early 1980s, and then struck again from August 1987 until January 1988, when he was arrested.

Barlow was wanted by police for 11 rapes in the 1980s.

He fled police at Leeds railway station while they were searching for him and shot at two police officers before he was eventually arrested in Bebington, Merseyside.

The officers were not injured, and Longmire was later convicted of attempted murder.