FREED BY ERROR: THE COCAINE-FUELED RAPIST ON THE RUN IN BOSNIA

​An international manhunt is underway for a wealthy London businessman convicted of a horrific, hours-long knife-point rape after he was accidentally released from prison due to a bureaucratic blunder.

​Bernadin Dedic, 48, fled the United Kingdom on the Eurostar within hours of being mistakenly walked out of HMP Wormwood Scrubs in February. On Tuesday, a jury at Isleworth Crown Court convicted him on all nine counts—including four counts of rape and making threats to kill—in his absence, following a trial he repeatedly tried to evade using bizarre medical excuses.

​The Night of Terror

​The court heard that Dedic, an Ealing-based businessman, launched the savage attack at his west London home shortly after separating from his partner. Prosecutor Simon Sandford told the jury that Dedic had consumed up to four bottles of red wine and snorted lines of cocaine before luring his victim into his basement after she rejected his advances for “no strings attached” sex.

​Once downstairs, the victim turned to see Dedic wielding a red-handled oriental kitchen knife. Holding her captive, Dedic told her he would kill her and then himself, warning: “If you scream, you won’t be heard.”

​During a terrifying ordeal that lasted several hours, Dedic slapped the woman, used the knife to slice off her sports bra and top, and subjected her to a series of rapes and severe sexual assaults.

​The ‘Broken’ System Blunder

​Dedic was remanded in custody ahead of his scheduled March trial. However, on February 6, a monumental administrative failure occurred when a court official mixed up digital case files and erroneously recorded that Dedic had been granted bail.

ADVERTISEMENT

​The false bail notice was electronically transmitted to HMP Wormwood Scrubs, and prison officials promptly released him. Though the Metropolitan Police had seized his UK passport during the initial investigation, Dedic simply used his Bosnian passport to buy a Eurostar ticket and fled to Sarajevo.

​HM Courts and Tribunals Service launched an immediate investigation into the escape. A spokesperson acknowledged the deep failure, stating: “We understand the distress errors such as this can cause to those affected and instances like this have exposed deep-rooted issues across the broken justice system.”

​Skiing Accidents and ‘Fake’ Heart Attacks

​What followed was a months-long game of cat-and-mouse with British justice. From his safe haven in Bosnia, Dedic hired a leading UK defense barrister and sent messages claiming he desperately wanted to return for trial but was “struggling to obtain a visa.”

​When a senior judge and Border Force agents coordinated to facilitate his return in March, Dedic abruptly claimed he could not travel due to a knee injury sustained in a skiing accident. Judge Martin Edmunds KC, the Recorder of Kensington and Chelsea, reluctantly delayed the trial until June to allow him to recover.

​When the new trial date arrived this month, Dedic failed to appear again, this time claiming he had suffered a heart attack in Sarajevo.

​By this point, Dedic had failed to pay his legal team and was no longer represented in court. Presiding Judge Hannah Duncan, skeptical of the timing, ordered an immediate medical review. Hospital records revealed that while Dedic had checked himself into a clinic complaining of chest pains, his heart rate was entirely normal and he was quickly discharged.

​”This is yet another attempt by Mr Dedic to obstruct, manipulate and avoid justice,” Judge Duncan ruled, ordering the trial to proceed without him.

​A Rare and Severe Failure

​Judge Edmunds expressed deep gravity over the administrative breakdown that allowed a dangerous sex offender to walk out of custody.

​”Although such errors are extremely rare… we take this error extremely seriously,” Judge Edmunds stated in his ruling. “We will fully investigate how it occurred and what steps can be put in place to prevent it occurring again.”

​Following the jury’s unanimous guilty verdicts, UK authorities are now preparing to launch formal extradition proceedings to bring Dedic back from Bosnia to face what is expected to be a massive prison sentence.