Police warn predator jailed for drugging and sexually assaulting straight men could have many more victims

Police warn predator jailed for drugging and sexually assaulting straight men could have many more victims
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Anna Fox

By Anna Fox


Published: 08/07/2022

- 17:07

Updated: 14/02/2023

- 10:51

Police are urging victims of Luiz Inacio Da Silva Neto to come forward

Police have warned how a dangerous sexual predator who drugged and assaulted heterosexual men could have many more victims who have not yet come forward.

Luiz Inacio Da Silva Neto, 35, was found guilty of drugging and assaulting two men in a luxury cottage in the Oxfordshire countryside, in a trial last week.


He was jailed for 22 years, after using the date-rape drug GHB on the two men in separate incidents last year.

During the trial, one of the men described how he was with Da Silva Neto at the property in November 2021 when they'd both been drinking.

He told how he'd started to feel tired and lost consciousness. Later, the victim awoke to find Da Silva Neto sexually assaulting him.

Luiz Da Silva Neto was found guilty of drugging two men and sexually assaulting them at a house in Oxfordshire
Luiz Da Silva Neto was found guilty of drugging two men and sexually assaulting them at a house in Oxfordshire
Thames Valley Police

One of the men – who had only been married for a few weeks – had been on a night out with friends in London when Da Silva Neto drugged him and transported him to Oxfordshire, where he raped him.

The man addressed the court with a victim statement, saying: "I went out with my colleagues. The next morning, I woke up miles from home in a strange house with a man I have never met.

"The sense of panic I felt that morning is indescribable and I have never been so terrified in my life.

"Calling my wife crying and screaming down the phone is a memory she can never forget and has left her traumatised."

The other victim had been working at Da Silva Neto's cottage in the village of Middle Barton when he was pumped with drugs and sexually assaulted.

In his victim impact statement, the man said he refrained from telling his family or friends about the attack and so was “forced to live with it alone every day”.

The police have urged for any victims to come forward
The police have urged for any victims to come forward
Nick Potts

He went on: "I’m heterosexual. I’m Catholic. This has had a huge effect on both of those parts of my life. I feel it has already, and it will affect future intimate relationships.

"I can never again be the fun-loving person who loved to go out with friends. I don’t know if I will ever fully trust people again."

Da Silva Neto's victims were both straight men, as he thought they would refrain from reporting him to the police.

Judge Michael Gledhill, jailed him for 22 years at Oxford Crown Court, saying: “You were quite happy to have sex with as many men as you could get, whether they were willing to have sex with you or not.

“You were more than happy to have sex with men who you know were heterosexual and why you were happy to do that I’m not going to speculate."

Da Silva Neto, of Wandsworth, southwest London, previously admitted to seven counts of drug possession at an earlier hearing for substances including MDMA, methylamphetamine, cocaine, ketamine and cannabis.

The attacks were carried out in November and December last year, but Thames Valley Police indicated that Da Silva Neto may have further victims who have not yet come forward.

Det Insp James Holden-White said: “Da Silva Neto is a sexual predator and a very dangerous man, as such the streets are a much safer place with him behind bars.

“Da Silva Neto used what presents as a well-practiced modus operandi - targeting men, administering a substance to incapacitate and overpower his chosen victim and then engaging in sexual activity with them, knowing they are not in a position to consent.

“Da Silva Neto deliberately targeted heterosexual men whom he believed would be especially unlikely to report the offences to police, but he was wrong.

“The two victims have shown immense bravery throughout and it is because of them that Da Silva Neto has been convicted and jailed.

“We are keeping an open mind as to the possibility that Da Silva Neto has committed other offences."

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