'I'd lost hope. Then after 19 years they caught my attacker' – rape victim

A woman who was raped almost 20 years ago said she had given up hope of her attacker being caught.

Mike Dixon, 38, was finally jailed last week after raping his victim in 1991.

Dixon, who was jailed for six years and nine months after pleading guilty to rape at Hull Crown Court, was caught after his DNA was taken when he was stopped for a minor driving offence.

It matched evidence found at the scene 19 years ago.

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His victim, now 38, said she never thought she would see justice for the violent attack.

Speaking exclusively to the Mail, she said other victims should be encouraged by her case.

She said: "I had given up hope until I got the phone call from the police.

"I thought they had forgotten about it. I didn't think he would get caught, so I carried on with my life.

"When I got that phone call from the police, it brought it all back again."

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, added: "I would say to other victims not to give up hope. I did, but they still caught him after all this time.

"He might have thought he got away with it, but the police still caught him. They can't run forever."

However, the woman, who still lives in Hull, said she was "disgusted" with the length of Dixon's sentence.

Dixon was sentenced under the rape laws that existed at the time of the attack and the judge gave him credit for his guilty plea.

The woman said: "I think he has been let off lightly. As far as I'm concerned, he has walked the streets for 20 years and he only got six years and nine months at the end of it."

The inquiry was reopened by detectives working on Humberside Police's cold case team, known as Operation Fox.

Dixon was arrested in Essex after his DNA, which was taken at the time he was stopped for the driving offence, was found to match the attacker's.

Operation Fox started a year ago to review historic unsolved sexual assault cases.

The court heard Dixon followed his victim as she went to catch a bus.

As she walked along Honiton Road, Bransholme, he grabbed her from behind and dragged her at knifepoint onto wasteland.

The victim, then a teenager, raised the alarm, but he was never traced.

Dixon, who was living in Cambeak Close, Bransholme, at the time of the attack, remained in the area for a number of years, but was living in Essex when he was arrested.

Dixon, who is married and was a full-time carer for his partner, has previous convictions including robbery, burglary, assaults and carrying offensive weapons.

His victim said for 17 years she has been too frightened to leave her home.