Unlicensed Cab Driver Jailed For Sexual Assaults

An unlicensed cab driver has been sentenced at Isleworth Crown Court today following sexual assaults on two women in Kingston and Chelsea in 2010.

Amir Bhatti, 33, of Cranford Lane, Hounslow pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault and one count of theft in October 2011.

He was sentenced to four years' imprisonemnet for public protection.

Detective Constable Serena D'Adamo of Sapphire said:"Bhatti used his job as an unlicensed cab driver to target vulnerable woman and get them into his car so he could carry out the assaults. This case should serve as a reminder to women to take sensible precautions when planning a night out and ensure they have a safe way of getting home.

"If anyone thinks they have been a victim of sexual assault I would urge them to report it to police; they can be assured that they will be treated sensitively by specially trained Sapphire officers."

An allegation of sexual assault was made to police on 11 November 2010 by an 18-year-old student who had been at a nightclub in Kingston in the early hours of that day.

She had become separated from her friends and left the venue, getting into the front passenger seat of a cab now known to be driven by Bhatti. During the journey she became aware that he was driving in the opposite direction to where she lived, and when the car stopped at traffic lights he touched her upper leg. She managed to get out of the car and run into a nearby hotel to get away from him.

A second incident was reported three days later on 14 November when a woman was assaulted after leaving the Chelsea area in a cab and the two offences were linked.

The victim, 31, left a nightclub on the Kings Road after becoming ill, she then recalled being in the rear of a parked car with a man on top of her, assaulting her. The victim claimed she needed to be sick and got out of the car before running to safety.

Both women also had money stolen from their bank accounts via a cashpoint machine on the nights they were assaulted.

Detectives from Sapphire identified Amir Bhatti as a suspect from a partial registration number of the car used in the offences. CCTV footage from the cashpoints used by the victims showed him standing with them when they made the withdrawls, and a record of him storing one of the victim's pin numbers in his mobile phone was retrieved.

Records from the phone were also able to pin point him as being at the locations relevant to the assaults at the time that they happened.

Bhatti was arrested on 29 November 2010 and subsequently charged. Due to the overwhelming evidence against him he entered a guilty plea prior to the start of the trial.

(GK)