Admin I Friday, July 03, 2026
A SICK predator who masqueraded as a caretaker to abuse children in the 1990s has finally been caged for 18 years.
Evil David Pearce, 70, used a twisted “lost keys” ruse to lure vulnerable young victims before subjecting them to horrific sexual assaults.
But his decades on the run came to a crashing halt thanks to a “one-in-a-billion” DNA match and the incredible bravery of his victims.
Snaresbrook Crown Court heard how Pearce’s reign of terror began in 1990 at a lido in Barking, east London.
Pretending to be a caretaker, he cornered a group of four children—the youngest aged just eight—and claimed he needed help finding lost keys.
The monster forced them into a changing cubicle, ordered them to strip, and abused them.
Showing remarkable courage, the traumatised kids immediately ran straight to a nearby police station.
Their quick thinking allowed forensic cops to seal off the scene and bag a vital semen sample from a wooden bench. But with no match on the database, the case went cold.
Six years later in 1996, the beast struck again in a Barking park, using the exact same “lost keys” trick to drag a 13-year-old girl into the bushes and assault her.
For decades, Pearce thought he had gotten away with his vile crimes. But in 2019, he was arrested for an unrelated voyeurism offence.
When cops took his DNA, the database flashed up a staggering one-in-a-billion match to the 1990 lido horror.
Met detectives instantly reopened the files, linking him to the 1996 attack. The brave female victim-survivor pick out the monster in an ID parade. Cops also discovered Pearce had lived in the area and owned a food truck near the park at the time.
Pearce, from Cambridgeshire, finally crumbles and pleaded guilty to seven sex offences. Yesterday, he was hit with an 18-year sentence.
Detective Constable Tony Anionwu said: “Pearce was a predator who disguised himself as someone in a position of trust to exploit and assault young children. His actions had a lasting impact.”
Forensic scientist Bridget March added that advances in science “ultimately paved the way” to nail the beast.
Further charges relating to 12 other children in the 1990s were left on file by the prosecution.