A serial rapist who terrorised the north of England died of brain cancer, a report has revealed. Andrew Davies, from Bolton, dubbed the 'Coronation Street rapist', targeted lone women after waiting for their husbands or fathers to leave the property in the morning.
Life sentences and release
Davies, formerly known as Andrew Barlow and Andrew Longmire, was given 13 life sentences for his crimes. He was released in 2023 after 34 years in prison, but was recalled to prison just six weeks later. The decision to release the predator caused outrage, and Dominic Raab, then the Justice Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister, intervened in a bid to prevent it.
Just weeks after his release he was recalled to prison for breach of his licence conditions. The Manchester Evening News broke the news of Davies' death in February this year.
Ombudsman report details
Now, a report by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman has disclosed further details surrounding his death. Davies died from natural causes after contracting brain cancer. The report states: "In October 2017, Mr Andrew Davies was sentenced to life imprisonment for sexual offences. He died of brain cancer on 28 February 2026, at HMP Moorland. He was 69 years old. We offer our condolences to Mr Davies’ family and friends."
The Ombudsman’s office wrote to Mr Davies’ next of kin to explain the investigation and to ask if they had any matters they wanted us to consider. They did not respond. One prisoner contacted us and raised concerns about the care Mr Davies received at Moorland. NHS England commissioned an independent clinical reviewer to review Mr Davies’ clinical care at Moorland.
Clinical care assessment
The clinical reviewer concluded that the clinical care Mr Davies received at Moorland was of a reasonable standard and was equivalent to that which he could have expected to receive in the community. She made four recommendations on issues unrelated to Mr Davies’ death which the Head of Healthcare will wish to address. The PPO investigator investigated the non-clinical issues relating to Mr Davies’ care. We did not find any non-clinical issues of concern. We make no recommendations. We shared our initial report with HMPPS and the prison’s healthcare provider, Practice Plus Group.
They found no factual inaccuracies. At the inquest, held on 8 April 2026, the Coroner concluded that Mr Davies died from natural causes.
Crimes and conviction
In 1988, Barlow was handed 11 life sentences for raping 11 women and an additional 56 years for other offences. In 2010, and then again in 2017, he received two more life sentences after rapes he committed in 1981 and 1982 which were linked to him through advances in DNA technology. As he had already surpassed his original 20-year tariff imposed in 1988 just another two years were added to his sentence in each case.
He was dubbed 'The Coronation Street rapist' as most of the victims were attacked in their own terraced homes in the north of England, the majority living in Greater Manchester. Two of the attacks took place in the street. He also struck in Cheshire, Staffordshire, Lancashire, and South Yorkshire in the early 1980s, and then again from August 1987 until January 1988 when he was arrested.
Barlow was sought by police in the 1980s over 11 of the rapes. During the hunt for him he evaded police at Leeds railway station and went on to shoot at two officers when he was finally arrested in Bebington, Merseyside. The officers were not injured and Longmire was later convicted of their attempted murder.
