{"id":31949,"date":"2026-05-09T00:15:37","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T00:15:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/31949\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T00:15:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T00:15:37","slug":"you-didnt-know-her-she-didnt-know-you-she-was-screaming-for-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/31949\/","title":{"rendered":"‘You didn’t know her, she didn’t know you. She was screaming for help’"},"content":{"rendered":"

‘You deliberately chose to target her’\"men\"<\/p>\n

17:19, 08 May 2026Updated 17:19, 08 May 2026<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Aron Traynor (Image: Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

A depraved predator who ‘deliberately targeted’ an elderly woman as she walked home from church more than three decades ago has been locked up. Aron Traynor, then 22, grabbed 74-year-old Annie Davenport from behind in 1992.<\/p>\n

He forced her down an embankment in Stockport<\/a> before indecently assaulting her and attempting to rape her three times. During the attack, she pleaded ‘oh God please help me’, before begging Traynor: “Don’t hurt me. I’m an old lady.” Ms Davenport has since died.<\/p>\n

Traynor, now 56, was unanimously found guilty of indecent assault and attempted rape following a trial at Minshull Street Crown Court. On Friday (May 8) Traynor, from Poynton, was jailed for 13 years.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to hear the latest from Manchester’s courts in our newsletter<\/p>\n

Prosecutor David Bruce said Ms Davenport was ‘brutally and violently attacked’ at around 6.20pm as she made her way to her home on the Bridgehall estate in Stockport on October 18, 1992.<\/p>\n

She had been to church that morning and then visited friends. She was walking home over a railway bridge when Traynor ‘attacked her from behind’, Mr Bruce said. Traynor used a ‘very strong arm’ to hold the pensioner around her chest while the other hand held her across her mouth and nose.<\/p>\n

He then dragged Ms Davenport ‘sideways’ through a gap in a fence and down an embankment where she was told not to scream. The defendant lay on top of her, pulled down her clothing and then attempted three times to rape her. Ms Davenport resisted as the defendant tried to kiss her, forced his tongue into her mouth and licked her face.<\/p>\n

Man jailed for attempted rape of woman over 30 years ago<\/p>\n

Traynor fled. Ms Davenport clambered back up the embankment and was seen by a passer-by ‘in distress’, wearing one shoe. Police were called and Ms Davenport was taken to St Mary’s Sexual Assault Referral Centre where she was examined and found to have abrasions on her knee. Samples were taken for DNA analysis.<\/p>\n

In June 2004, Ms Davenport died after suffering a chest complaint. Traynor was arrested for an unconnected matter on August 13, 2023, for allegedly being drunk and in charge of a vehicle, and as part of the arrest he provided a DNA sample which matched the sample taken from an item of Ms Davenport’s clothing, the court heard.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Traynor’s arrest(Image: GMP)<\/p>\n

The ‘cold case’ unit of Greater Manchester Police<\/a> was informed of the match and Traynor was arrested on February 1, 2024. He answered ‘no comment’ to all questions put to him.<\/p>\n

Ms Davenport’s son said in a victim impact statement: “Mum was always a strong and confident person. She carried this attitude whilst looking after my dad who had dementia for a number of years.<\/p>\n

“This all changed after the attack – she became nervous about walking out and about where she lived as it was near where the attack happened. She would only go out in daylight hours, and she would stay at home, sitting in the front room watching the world go by.<\/p>\n

“The whole family are shocked, her grandchildren could not believe this happened to their beloved Nana. She suffered with fibromyalgia which was made worse by the attack and she ended up taking an overdose from which she thankfully recovered.<\/p>\n

“The attack on her was terrible for anyone, let alone a frail, elderly lady who could not protect herself.”<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Aron Traynor (Image: GMP)<\/p>\n

Niamh McGinty, mitigating, said: “This was opportunistic. There is no evidence he observed her, there is no evidence he attempted to conceal his identity. There was planning in the moment, but not significant planning.”<\/p>\n

She said Traynor continues to maintain his innocence. “He is described by other as caring, helpful and emotionally damaged by his extremely violent childhood,” she added.<\/p>\n

Traynor, of London Road, Poynton, was jailed for 13 years, of which he will serve two thirds in prison. He was also made subject of the Sex Offenders Register for life.<\/p>\n

Sentencing, Recorder Anna Pope KC said: “You didn’t know her. She didn’t know you. She was trying to scream for help. She begged you not to hurt her because she was an old lady.<\/p>\n

“You deliberately chose to target her. You found she was an easy target. Simply – she was not somebody able to run away from you easily or put up a fight.”<\/p>\n

Addressing Ms Davenport’s family, she added: “She showed great courage. Whilst she has passed away I do wish her family the best in moving forward.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"‘You deliberately chose to target her’ 17:19, 08 May 2026Updated 17:19, 08 May 2026 Aron Traynor (Image: Manchester…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31950,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[141,13855,3624,5,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-31949","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"tag-courts","9":"tag-minshull-street-crown-court","10":"tag-stockport","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116541739800406308","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}