Woman reveals how she used kitchen knife to defend herself from convicted killer rapist Jason Graham

A woman has told how she defended herself when killer rapist Jason Graham broke into her sheltered accommodation home before he lay in wait in her bedroom.

While recovering from a serious car accident, Rochelle Alexandra, now 49, had just moved into the flat in the Woodlands area of Glasgow on the night of January 12, 2012.

When she heard someone in her bedroom she grabbed a kitchen knife and confronted the beast.

The incident took place just months before Graham was convicted of raping another woman.

Ms Alexandra, who is the bestselling author of the book In Alexa’s Shoes, said: ‘I was offered this apartment due to health conditions. 

‘I had been in a very bad car crash and was largely bed bound. On the night I moved in, friends and family helped me and then left.

‘I was exhausted and within a few minutes of my friends leaving I heard the floorboards creaking in the bedroom upstairs.

‘At first I thought it must be my mum.

‘But I opened the hall door and the place smelled like a brewery. I was terrified because I didn’t know who was up there or how many people there were.

‘I got a knife from the kitchen and I shouted up the stairs.

‘Jason Graham came down. He was high and drunk. He asked me what I was going to do with the knife.

‘He left and went upstairs to the top flat in the building where his so-called uncle lived.

While recovering from a serious car accident, author Rochelle Alexandra (above) now 49, was set upon by killer rapist Jason Graham after moving into sheltered accommodation in the Woodlands area of Glasgow on the night of January 12, 2012.

Rochelle grabbed a kitchen knife after hearing someone in her bedroom and confronted the beast. The incident took place just months before Graham was convicted of raping another woman

Rochelle grabbed a kitchen knife after hearing someone in her bedroom and confronted the beast. The incident took place just months before Graham was convicted of raping another woman

Jason Graham (pictured), 30, was handed a minimum of 19 years at Livingston Sheriff Court after previously admitting to sexually assaulting charity worker Esther Brown, 67, before battering her to death at her home in West Princes Street in Glasgow

Jason Graham (pictured), 30, was handed a minimum of 19 years at Livingston Sheriff Court after previously admitting to sexually assaulting charity worker Esther Brown, 67, before battering her to death at her home in West Princes Street in Glasgow

‘He wasn’t his real uncle, but a piece of trash I found out he had been visiting for months while breaking into houses.

‘I told the man Jason Graham had been in my house and had robbed me. Jason Graham then started taking his clothes off.

‘That’s when I ran downstairs and chapped on the neighbours’ doors. 

‘The woman next door answered with a machete in her hand. I asked her to phone the police.

‘She said, “That b****rd has been terrorising me for months”.

‘The woman’s nephew and girlfriend were living with her and sleeping on the sofa because she was too terrified to stay there alone because of him.

‘She moved out the next day.

‘I later found out Graham had been gaining entry into this sheltered housing complex and eight of the tenants had been broken into and had money and jewellery stolen.

‘One was an amputee who had left the door unlocked for his carers.’

Graham, 30, who had been released early from a four-and-half-year sentence for raping a woman in 2013, and the rape and murder of Esther Brown, 67, earlier this year.

He has been given a life sentence and will serve a minimum of 19 years after he was found guilty of the attack on the pensioner.

But Ms Alexandra believes there are likely to be many other victims including her own neighbours who were being terrorised at the time of her own home invasion experience by the serial predator.

Alexandra discovered Graham had stolen her grandmother’s wedding ring, other items and £1,000 and reported the incident to the police.

Fighting back the tears, she told MailOnline: ‘He would have raped me in this house if I had not stood up to him with a knife as ill as I was.

‘Then he came back with his grandfather kicking the door and calling me a f***ing boot because I reported him to the police.

‘There were other sex offenders that he hung around with. They were always pestering me and other women.

‘One time I saw a woman being dragged along the pavement calling out for help. ‘She was found dead in her flat days later.

‘He and his relatives started screaming at me whenever I left the house.’

She was so terrified of Graham she contacted lawyers in order to take a restraining order against him, but he could not be found at the time to serve the papers in the same year he was imprisoned for rape.

She believes the killer had already been responsible for a spate of burglaries and attacks in her building over a number of years.

‘After I found him in my house I was traumatised,’ she said. ‘I asked the Queen’s Cross Housing Association what they would do if I had been raped,’ she said.

‘I was told, “Don’t be ridiculous”.

‘He had a key to the building because he had a friend who lived in the block. He could come and go as he pleased and would spit and swear at you.

‘He hung with a pack of older men in the neighbourhood who were sleazy and dangerous. It wasn’t safe to go out.

‘I had moved in here to have a quiet life and be close to my mum. Instead, I’ve had them smashing my car and kicking my door and calling me a grass because I reported Graham to the police.’

Devout Christian Ms Brown (pictured) 'fought for her life' as she was punched, kicked and struck over the head with pieces of wood from a broken chair that was damaged during the attack

Devout Christian Ms Brown (pictured) ‘fought for her life’ as she was punched, kicked and struck over the head with pieces of wood from a broken chair that was damaged during the attack

Graham was one of over 4,000 sex offenders being monitored by police at the time of Esther’s murder earlier this year.

He punched, kicked and stamped on the much loved churchgoer’s head and body before striking her with pieces of wood from a chair.

He also raped her and left her dead in her blood-soaked flat for four days.

It has led to questions being asked about early release for prisoners with a strain on police resources.

Ms Alexandra said: ‘He stole my grandmother’s ring. She was a holocaust survivor. I wrote a book about her life and I just wish I could get it back especially after all she went through.’

She added: ‘The housing association and police knew about Jason Graham.

‘This piece of trash has killed this beautiful woman and if steps had been taken earlier she would still be alive.

‘It is disgusting. He should get a minimum of 60 years.

‘He is a riddled, sexual predator beast.

‘He has messed with at least three lives we know of and think of the many lives we don’t know about.

‘Nobody knows about me because I had to take care of it myself.

‘I would suggest someone look at how many people moved out of here before I came here.

‘The fact that my neighbour at the time answered her door with a machete. She left that night and never came back.

‘I never saw anything like that while living in New York. It felt like I was in the Twilight Zone.

‘I’m sick to my stomach. Had I not stood up to Jason Graham with a knife when he was in my house in my bedroom he would have raped me.’

Her claims come amid reports that the police are struggling to keep the public safe from a record numbers of sex offenders on Scotland’s streets.

New figures show 4,417 are now living in communities across the country and officers are finding it difficult to monitor them properly, leading to fears that some will reoffend.

The Scottish Police Federation, the union which represents rank-and-file officers, has said the ‘huge’ caseloads now facing some of those tasked with keeping an eye on registered sex offenders (RSOs) were not only posing a welfare risk to them but were becoming a danger to the public.

Each of Police Scotland’s 13 local policing divisions having dedicated sex offender units, with specialist officers working with local authorities, the NHS and the Scottish Prison Service under multi-agency public protection arrangements (MAPPA) to manage and reduce the risk posed by sex offenders in the community.

Figures to September 30 show Scotland has an all-time high of RSOs, with 4,417 living in the community and 1,547 in custody or in hospital.

It is a rise of 134 since March, when there were 4,358 recorded as living in the community, with 1,472 in custody or in hospital.

Russell Findlay MSP, shadow community safety spokesman for the Scottish Tories, said: ‘To discover that more than 4,000 dangerous sex offenders are in communities across Scotland is of great concern and to monitor so many of them effectively presents significant challenges.

‘It is deeply concerning to hear concerns that some of these predatory individuals may drop off the radar. Ultimately, it is the responsibility of SNP Ministers to ensure Police Scotland has the resources it needs to keep us safe.’

But Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has denied claims ‘the SNP’s soft touch justice system’ puts criminals ahead of victims.

Earlier this week Tory leader Douglas Ross pressed the First Minister over proposals to bring forward the early release trigger for criminals.

The consultation seeks views on proposals which could see some offenders released from prison after serving just one-third of their sentence.

Speaking at First Minister’s Questions, Ms Sturgeon stressed that Scotland sends more of its population to prison than any other country in Western Europe.

Mr Ross had raised the case of Esther Brown’s killer Jason Graham who was a registered sex offender and had previously served time in prison for raping another woman.

Mr Ross said: ‘This case is yet another damning example of the glaring flaws in Scotland’s justice system.

‘Jason Graham was released early, he wasn’t monitored properly.’

Ms Sturgeon admitted the systems put in place to protect the public from registered sex offenders ‘did not work in this particular, tragic case’.

She added that it would be right for there to be a ‘significant case review’.

Ms Sturgeon added: ‘It is important that we recognise that it’s necessary to have in place a justice system that punishes those that deserve to be punished. But that also promotes rehabilitation and tries to reduce re-offending.

‘I know it is an easy soundbite for the Conservatives but to describe a country as soft touch justice when we both have some of the lowest crime rates we’ve had in many years but also, as I’ve said already today, send a higher proportion of our population to prison than any other country in Western Europe, is simply not accurate.

‘The question we have to ask ourselves is – is our justice system and the approaches that are taken to dealing with offenders always as effective as they should be, both in punishing but also in reducing re-offending?’

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