Georgel Cornel Hirjanu
During the early hours of Christmas Day 2014, Kent Police received a call from a woman in her twenties who said she had been raped just moments before.
The victim reported she had been walking along Castle Street towards Folkestone Road after a night out when she was approached and grabbed by two men, who dragged her into a garage area near Stembrook, and raped her. It was only when she was able to grab her mobile phone, causing it to illuminate, that the two men fled the scene.
An investigation by the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate uncovered the identity of the two men, one was Romanian-born Hirjanu. Both men left the country when they realised they were wanted by police. The first offender returned the UK shortly after and was sentenced on 17 August 2015 to 15 years in prison and a further three years on licence.
Hirjanu was arrested in Romania in November 2015 on a European arrest warrant and brought back to the UK by police where he was charged.
Senior Investigating Officer Detective Inspector Lee Whitehead of the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate said: "Today's sentence will hopefully go some way to allow the victim to lead a normal life, without fear of coming face-to-face with her attacker. She has been very brave and shown great dignity throughout the course of our long investigation."
