Dec 2022
Mircea Cicalo, 22, of no fixed abode, fled to Romania after he was arrested in connection to one incident of rape, before being brought back to the UK and pleading guilty to two rapes. Cicalo carried out both his attacks in 2018 within three weeks of one another.
At around 6.40am on Saturday. October 13, a passer-by called the emergency services after finding a woman in her 40s with facial injuries in distress in Cromwell Road, Luton. She had been seriously assaulted by a man who approached her on New Bedford Road, High Town, Luton, LU1 1, before raping her. In the early hours of November 2, a woman in her 20s reported being raped and beaten by a man who had engaged her in conversation as she walked through Luton town centre.
Officers responding to the second attack arrested a man within minutes of her 999 call after CCTV operators tracked him leaving the scene, but in interview Cicalo claimed it was consensual intercourse and denied the assault. He was bailed and officers continued the investigation.
As the investigation continued, in February 2019, Cicalo’s DNA profile was matched to the attack in October, but by this time he had fled the country and gone into hiding. A European Arrest Warrant (EAW) was issued to aid the hunt for him, and in February 2021 he was extradited to the UK.
He pleaded guilty to the October 2018 rape but maintained his innocence in relation to the second offence. However, on the first day of trial, he amended his plea to guilty. Cicalo was sentenced on Friday 26 August at Luton Crown Court to serve 18 years in prison for two counts of rape. He will serve an additional six years on licence and will not be considered for parole until he serves at least two thirds of his sentence.
https://www.bedfordshirelive.co.uk/news/bedfordshire-news/dangerous-rapist-who-preyed-lone-7525818