11 Jul 2023
Thasawar Iqbal, who pretended to be a taxi driver, was caught by the police after his victim asked for his number and passed it on to officers. The rapist has been jailed for 17 years
A rape victim asked for her attacker’s number and then passed it on to the police, which led to him being caught. She was walking home in the early hours of the morning when she was stopped by Thasawar Iqbal, who posed as a taxi driver and targeted women leaving nightclubs in Birmingham city centre.
CCTV footage showed the 41-year-old rapist following the woman in his car and blocking her path before offering her a lift, which she initially refused. He continued to follow her until he eventually persuaded her he was a taxi driver who would drive her home, but the predator instead drove her to a pub car park and raped her, Birmingham Live reports.
After the attack, Iqbal asked the victim for her phone number, but she quickly thought about asking for his number so she could pass it to the police. It led to detectives catching him and, through CCTV and analysis of his phone, they were able to prove what he did to her. Iqbal from Erdington, had been on bail for a similar offence against another woman at the time.
He was found guilty of several offences including kidnap, rape and sexual assault following the attack last July and jailed for 17 years.
Judge Francis Laird said during sentencing in May: “I am sure, firstly, on both occasions, you were driving in the city centre of Birmingham looking for vulnerable women. Secondly, your intent was to pose as a taxi driver in order to trick them into your car.”
The case is among those that have been highlighted by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which says a new approach to investigating rape cases is helping to catch and lock up more attackers.
It involves specialist lawyers providing advice to detectives early in investigations in a bid to strengthen cases and improve a pitifully low rape conviction rate. Rape charges in the Midlands increased from 192 in 2021 to 247 last year, the CPS said.
Douglas Mackay, from CPS West Midlands, said: “The launch of the National Operating Model builds on our work over the past few years in the West Midlands and the lessons we have learned from Operation Soteria to improve the handling of rape cases through better victim communication and early investigative advice.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/evil-rapist-caught-after-victim-30442748
A rapist who posed as a taxi driver when he preyed on two women has been jailed for 17 years.
Thasawar Iqbal picked up the first woman in Birmingham in December 2021 and made sexual advances to her and tried to take her into a house, police said.
She escaped and he was arrested but, while on bail, picked up another woman and subjected her to sexual abuse.
The 41-year-old was convicted at Birmingham Crown Court of offences including sexual assault and rape.
Police said he took drugs while he drove his first victim, having offered her a lift home from the city centre before taking her to an unknown location.
She managed to get away after Iqbal made sexual advances and stopped at a house where he tried to take her inside.
‘Predatory sexual offender’
On 10 July 2022, Iqbal picked up the second woman on Birchfield Road as she walked alone.
He blocked her path and offered her a lift which she refused at first but he followed her and persuaded her he was a taxi driver and would take her home, officers said.
She was taken to a local pub’s car park where he sexually assaulted her before offering to drive her to where she lived.
He asked for her phone number but police said she agreed to have his number instead, then called officers and he was arrested.
Iqbal, from Birchdale Road in Erdington, Birmingham, was convicted in January and sentenced on Friday to 17 years in prison with a further five on licence in the community.
Iqbal was a “predatory sexual offender” and his actions were “persistent and pre-planned”, Det Con Soniya Ram said.
She praised the bravery of the two women for coming forward to report him to police.