In 2013, the Offender Database reported that Opemipo Jaji, then 18, of Edmonton, North London, was sentenced at the Old Bailey to life imprisonment.
Opemipo Jaji was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of eight years after being convicted of the violent rape of an 11-year-old girl in Jubilee Park, Enfield. The court heard that Opemipo Jaji, who was on probation at the time for a previous sexual assault, followed the schoolgirl off a bus and dragged her into the park, where he subjected her to a horrific three-hour ordeal while threatening her with a knife.
The prosecution detailed a history of predatory behaviour, noting that Opemipo Jaji had previously sexually assaulted a 12-year-old girl in 2011 and had a conviction for making indecent images of children. Mr Justice Singh described him as “manipulative and a liar,” emphasising that he had planned to commit a rape for months and posed such a significant risk to the public that only an indeterminate sentence was appropriate.
At the end of 2025, Opemipo Jaji, now 30, brought an appeal before the Court of Appeal, claiming his life sentence was “manifestly excessive” and influenced by racial bias and media attention. He argued that the sentencing judge had failed to account for his personal mitigation and that an extended determinate sentence would have been sufficient to protect the public.
Lord Justice Holgate, Mrs Justice McGowan DBE, and Her Honour Judge Moreland rejected the appeal, ruling that the sentence was entirely justified. They cited a pre-sentence report highlighting Opemipo Jaji’s “serious escalation” in predatory behaviour. They concluded that his life sentence was necessary to ensure public safety, effectively upholding the original decision made in 2013.
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