Bradford ‘Crossbow Cannibal’ rape gang jailed

Slovakians Jan Dzudza, 40, Matus Tipan, 28, and Miroslav Karicka, 45, were jailed by a judge at Bradford Crown Court today, court officials confirmed.

The judge heard how one of the victims of the gang was Suzanne Blamires.

Miss Blamires was later a victim of Stephen Griffiths - the Bradford murderer known as the Crossbow Cannibal who was jailed in 2010 for killing three women.

She was 36 years old when she died.

Two years earlier, she was violently gang-raped by a group of men in a 40 minute ordeal as she worked in Bradford.

Gang leader Lubomir Kora was locked up indefinitely in 2008 but, by this time, Dzudza, Tipan and Karicka had fled the UK.

They were extradited from Slovakia by West Yorkshire Police and they admitted conspiracy to rape two prostitutes, including Miss Blamires, last month.

Detective Superintendent Mark Ridley, who led the inquiry, said: “These men lured their victims in to situations they could not escape using physical violence and intimidation to undertake what were a series of extremely serious sexual offences.

“We are committed to protecting the most vulnerable in society and detectives investigating these incidents were absolutely determined to bring those responsible to justice.

“They developed a positive working relationship with the Slovakian authorities to secure evidence and ensure the extradition of each of these individuals.

“Legislation allowing us to conduct inquiries across the world and pursue fugitives who flee abroad to avoid prosecution was used to ensure that justice was done.

“Those who involve themselves in such crimes in West Yorkshire and then flee abroad can be confident of one thing only, that they will be pursued and brought back to the United Kingdom to face justice.

“This has been a long process for their victims and I hope that today’s sentence will provide some comfort to them and their families.”