Harrow rapists jailed because of bling evidence

A fake diamond-encrusted belt and a discarded cigarette butt helped to bring a pair of rapists to justice.

The 14-year-old victim of Jeton Jashari remembered his distinctive initialled belt after he raped her in a wood last year and detectives later found an identical one in his cupboard.
DNA from the saliva left on the cigarette butt found at the crime scene was also used to identify him.

The 18-year-old of Toorack Road, Harrow, was convicted on Monday of raping the teenager in The Grove Open Space in Lowlands Road on September 3.

He and Binak Hasa, 19, had been charged with assaulting two 14-year-olds they had spotted on a 183 bus coming into Harrow from Kings-bury. Hasa, of Salmon Street, Kings-bury, had been accused of raping one of the girls in another part of the wood at the same time, and pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing.

His brother, who had also been on the bus, followed them from Harrow bus station, in College Road, to Lowlands Recreation Ground, where Hasa and Jashari later caught up with them, the court heard.

Hasa's brother left swiftly, saying he didn't want anything to do with it, the jury was told.

But Hasa and Jashari, both of Albanian descent, followed the girls into a wood in The Grove open space where they began chatting to the two on a fallen log.

When left alone, Jashari pushed the frightened teen to the floor and held her down in the mud, before taking off his trousers and forcing her to perform oral sex on him.

The court heard that the pair also stole a mobile phone from one of their victims and later rang the other saying her friend would have to pay £50 to get it back.

One victim said in interview that her attacker wore a distinctive black leather belt with a buckle containing a fake diamond encrusted J.

n Hasa and Jashari now face lengthy sentences when they reappear at court on April 2.