Notorious serial rapist Andrew Davies was handed 13 life sentences for attacking women across the north of England in the 1980s – the 69-year-old has now died in jail
A notorious serial rapist who instilled fear across the north of England has died in prison. Andrew Davies, previously known as Andrew Barlow and Andrew Longmire, was handed 13 life sentences for his heinous acts.
Throughout the 1980s, Barlow, hailing from Bolton and infamously labelled ‘The Coronation Street Rapist’, primarily targeted Greater Manchester, but also committed crimes in four other counties. He preyed on women alone, often in their terraced homes, lying in wait until husbands or fathers had left the premises in the morning.
After serving 34 years behind bars, he was released in 2023, only to be recalled to prison a mere six weeks later.
Upon his release on March 6, 2023, the predator was escorted to a probation service hostel by police. He was sent back to prison due to violating his licence conditions and because of his conduct. It was determined at the time that the risk he posed could not be managed within the community, reports the Manchester Evening News.
Davies contested his recall at a hearing in June 2024. The following month, the parole board announced that his application had been rejected.
A panel concluded that he ‘would present a very high risk of a contact sexual offence at this time’. They further stated: “His risk of serious harm towards other people was considered to be very high.”
It is believed that Davies, aged 69, died of natural causes just over a fortnight ago.
Today one of his victims, who was raped at knifepoint by Barlow in her own bed in 1987, told the Manchester Evening News: “It’s a relief… but it isn’t. I still relive what he did to me. It is a very difficult feeling to handle.”
A Prison Service spokesperson said: “These were despicable crimes, and our thoughts remain with the victims of Andrew Davies.”
Davies was an inmate at HMP Moorland, near Doncaster, a category C prison. The Prison Service said: “Andrew Davies, previously called Andrew Barlow and Andrew Longmire, died on 28 February 2026. As with all deaths in custody the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will investigate.”
The possibility of his release had enraged victims and their relatives who fought to keep him imprisoned with assistance from veteran Manchester MP Graham Stringer.
A family member of one of his victims told the Manchester Evening News in 2024: “A parole hearing took place in regards to his recall last year after being out in the community for just six weeks after he broke some of the 32 license conditions he was given. He is an unsafe rapist who hasn’t changed in my eyes.”
Barlow’s freedom was postponed after the then Justice Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, Dominic Raab, requested the Parole Board reconsider its ruling.
Mr Raab branded Barlow’s crimes as ‘despicable’ and said in January 2023: “My thoughts remain with the victims of Andrew Barlow, whose despicable crimes blighted the lives of dozens of women.
“Public protection is my number one priority, which is why I’ve asked the Parole Board to reconsider their decision to release and I am overhauling the parole system to keep prisoners who pose a risk to the public off our streets.”
Following Barlow’s swift return to custody in April 2023, Mr Stringer remarked: “It is extraordinary. I think this is another failure of the Parole Board to use common sense and protect the public from a very dangerous man. They were warned by me and the victims. This is institutional failure of the highest order.”
A family member of a woman Barlow assaulted in her own home in Greater Manchester in 1987 commented in May 2023 after the Manchester Evening News revealed his recall to custody: “I took it on the chin in January and decided to get on with my life when Barlow was released – now this animal is back in our lives again. We told the authorities and they didn’t listen.
“Someone has to be accountable for this. It will mean all the victims and their families are reliving the agony again like we had to in January when we tried in vain to stop his release. We told the authorities he was too high a risk and we have been proven right.”
The daughter of a woman whose mother was attacked in Greater Manchester by Barlow in the early 1980s stated: “I was shocked when I heard that he was being recalled so soon. But then when I thought about how evil and twisted he was when committing his crimes it doesn’t surprise me.
“When the victim support officer told me I had goosebumps all over my body and then my eyes swelled up with tears, I was thinking who has he attacked this time? The officer told me that he had not hurt anyone but that his behaviour had meant an immediate recall to prison. I am just pleased he has been monitored so closely as his behaviour whatever it was could have escalated.”
Barlow was handed 11 life sentences in 1988 for raping 11 women and a further 56 years for other crimes. In 2010, and again in 2017, he was given two more life sentences for rapes he committed in 1981 and 1982 which were connected to him through advancements in DNA technology. As he had already exceeded his original 20-year tariff set in 1988, only an additional two years were added to his sentence in each instance.
He earned the moniker ‘The Coronation Street rapist’ as most of his victims were assaulted in their own terraced houses in the north of England, with the majority residing in Greater Manchester. Two of the attacks occurred on the street. He also targeted victims in Cheshire, Staffordshire, Lancashire, and South Yorkshire in the early 1980s, and then again from August 1987 until January 1988 when he was apprehended.
Barlow was wanted by police in the 1980s over 11 of the rapes. During the manhunt he escaped officers at Leeds railway station and subsequently opened fire on two constables when he was eventually apprehended in Bebington, Merseyside. The officers sustained no injuries and Longmire was subsequently found guilty of their attempted murder.