Justice at last

10:59am Thursday 22nd May 2008

A VICIOUS sex attack carried out at the University of York in 1996 has finally come back to haunt the man responsible.

For 11 years after he carried out the attempted rape in the wooded area Steven Sellars, now 41, of Bramham Grove, Chapelfields, has pleaded guilty at York Crown Court to his crime after being trapped by DNA preserved for more than a decade.

Just days after Sellars grabbed her by the throat and dragged her into a wooded area on April 23, 1996, his victim, then 19, told a press conference: "I want this man caught and I don't want him to be out there to do it to somebody else.

" I am angry that he thinks he has got away with it."

Now, after Sellars finally admitted what he had done, Recorder of York, Judge Stephen Ashurst said: "It may well have come as a very considerable relief for a number of people to hear you enter your guilty plea to this charge today."

Justice catches up with sex monster

THE teenage victim of a notorious rape bid near the University of York has finally seen her attacker face justice - 11 years later.

Steven Sellars thought he was being a responsible father when he returned a craft knife his son had inadvertently taken home from school.

But that led to police taking his DNA and less than two weeks later, he was arrested for the rape bid that horrified undergraduates and the York community 11 years ago.

The attacker had left his DNA at the scene and police had preserved it in the hope that one day it would lead them to him.

At York Crown Court, Sellars, now 41, of Bramham Grove, Chapel fields, pleaded guilty to attempted rape.

"It may well have come as a very considerable relief for a number of people to hear you enter your guilty plea to this charge today," the newly-installed Recorder of York, Judge Stephen Ashurst, told him.

Just days after Sellars grabbed her by the throat and dragged her into a wooded area between Windmill Lane and York Science Park on April 23, 1996, the victim, then 19, told the world: "I want this man caught and I don't want him to be out there to do it to somebody else. I am angry he thinks he has got away with it."

She was in court to hear Sellars' plea - and prosecution barrister David Brooke revealed police checks of Sellars' computer showed he had been searching the internet recently for "rape fantasy" and similar words.

He also has a previous conviction for rape and the judge wanted to know more about Sellars' crimes in South Yorkshire in 1989 and Leeds in 1993 before sentencing him.

"The information I have so far reveals a very disturbing picture and the court is going to have to give extremely careful consideration to the risk to the general public in this particular case," the judge said. The maximum sentence for attempted rape is life.

At an earlier hearing, Sellars' barrister Nicholas Johnson said he had turned his life around since the 1990s and was a different person, had married and had children.

How fatherly actions saw sex attacker caught

FATHER Steven Sellars knew exactly what a parent should do when his son told him he had accidentally brought a school Stanley knife home.

The child was scared he would be reprimanded if he took it back and told staff how he had packed it away with his pencils after an art lesson.

"I offered to take the knife back - as any responsible parent would do," Sellars told The Press shortly afterwards.

When he reached York High School, he explained to the receptionist why he had come and calmly showed her the knife.

He wanted to ask the headteacher how his son had managed to leave the school without anyone, especially the art teacher, realising there was a knife missing.

But as Sellars was about to leave the school grounds after his discussion with headteacher David Ellis, armed officers arrested him.

The school had called in the police.

"Essentially I was arrested for doing the right thing, for telling the truth and for being honest," he said after he was released without charge.

Now his wife and children are facing life without him after police took Sellars' DNA and found they had located a notorious sex attacker.

The school defended its actions. Mr Ellis said it was entirely appropriate after a man had approached staff with a knife.