John David Hall: The double life of a serial rapist who was in charge of the UK’s most dangerous sex offenders

Hall was a well-regarded prison officer who rose through the ranks at HMP Wakefield.

His job involved designing security systems in the maximum security jail where some of the UK’s most dangerous sex offenders are held, including double child killer Ian Huntley

Hall’s exemplary prison service record and affable nature earned him the respect of colleagues.

He was expected to one day become a prison governor.

Away from work Hall trawled the streets of Leeds and Wakefield targeting female victims.

When police raided Hall’s home in Kirkhamgate, Wakefield, they discovered he had visited more than 600 porn sites and had incriminating images on his home computer.

Hall had tried – but failed – to clear out his computer after watching BBC’s Crimewatch programme appealing for information about his crimes.

Hall was found guilty of raping four women, attempting to rape a fifth victim and also causing grievous bodily harm and actual bodily harm to two of his victims.

Those offences took place over a period of four-and- a-half years between 1997 and 2001.

The offences included the rape of a 17-year-old in Rothwell, Leeds, in 1997.

Hall then went on to admit additional offences against school-aged girls.

In November 2004, Hall tried to pick up a 14-year-old girl at a bus stop on Batley Road, Alverthorpe, Wakefield.

He pulled up alongside her in his car posing as a police officer and showed a fake warrant card.

Hall asked for directions and then told her to get in and show him the way. He drove away when she refused.

Weeks later, on New Year’s Eve, a 12-year-old girl was walking along the same road,

Hall, again posing as a police officer, asked the girl for directions.

He told her that if she didn’t get into the car he would make her.

She got into the vehicle and was driven to an unused road under Junction 41 of the M1, at Carr Gate, Wakefield – close to West Yorkshire Police’s training centre.

There, he indecently assaulted his terrified victim.

In April 2005, police appealed on Crimewatch for information about the two incidents.

The incident room received 175 calls from people providing names and information.

The names prompted police to focus on the prison and police services.

Six prison officers were interviewed and Hall was the only suspect without an alibi.

Officers from West Yorkshire Police’s Homicide and Major Enquiry team became suspicious of his demeanour.

In July 2005, Hall was formally arrested on suspicion of three kidnaps, six attempted kidnaps and two indecent assaults which detectives believed to have been carried out by the same man.

After two days in custody and undergoing an identity parade, Hall was released on police bail pending forensic examination.

Police were able to take Hall’s DNA because of new legislation.

His DNA was entered on to the Police National DNA Database and in August 5, 2005 the DNA was found to match with samples taken from the rape of a 21- year-old woman in The Calls area of Leeds in 1998.

Detectives began to put the spotlight on Hall while re-opening the files on unsolved rape cases.

They suspected there was a sinister background to an outwardly respectable man.

Officers began to question Hall’s colleagues and friends, including women he had met in recent years.

They built up a picture of a man with a dark secret.

For the first time, they realised that a man suspected of preying on young girls was also a serial rapist of adult women.

Hall’s car, a silver Peugeot 307, was seized and examined by forensic scientists.

Scientists were able to match his tyres to casts of tyre prints taken from the spot where Hall had sexually assaulted the 12-year-old girl.

Soil samples taken from under the wing of Hall’s car also matched soil at the spot.

Fibres from his fleece were also found to match those on the victim’s clothing.

Further inquiries unearthed more offences of rape.

Hall was arrested, subsequently charged and released on bail.

Media coverage of his court appearance prompted another victim to come forward to reveal Hall had tired to rape her in the St John’s area of Wakefield between October and December 2001.

Hall had denied three of the charges against him – kidnapping a 12-year-old girl and attempting to kidnap two 11-year-old girls in the Tingley area, between Leeds and Wakefield, in July 2003.

Those charges were allowed to remain on file but police said that they were not looking for anyone else in connection with those incidents.

Det Supt Steve Fear, a senior investigating officer, said after the court case: “John David Hall is a predatory paedophile and serial sex offender of the worst kind.”