Man jailed for the London kidnap and sexual assault of woman after claiming he was a taxi driver

A man has been jailed following his conviction for kidnap and sexual assault.

Selim Ahmed, 32, of Camden, was sentenced on Friday, 22 May to four years’ imprisonment for kidnap and 18 months for sexual assault, to run concurrently.

He was also placed on the sex offenders register for 10 years and handed a 10-year sexual harm prevention order.

A 19-year-old woman - Levi Croll, of Dundee, who had previously been found guilty of one count of kidnap – was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment suspended for two years. She was also given a Restriction of Liberty Order which includes a curfew and electronic tag.

Previously, on Friday, 1 May, Ahmed’s brother, Nazmul Ahmed, 26, also of Camden, was sentenced to a total of 16 years’ imprisonment with an extended period of four years on license. He will be on the sex offenders register for life.

An investigation was launched by detectives from the Central North Safeguarding Team after a number of women were targeted as they left bars and nightclubs. The women were sexually assault, and defrauded.

(Nazmul Ahmed)

The court heard that on Sunday, 15 September 2018, a woman in her 20s was out with friends when she was approached by men in a car on Russell Square, WC1.

She got into the vehicle and fell asleep, awaking to find herself alone with Nazmul Ahmed who was sexually assaulting her. She was then driven home and reported the assault to police who began an investigation.

On Saturday, 2 March 2019, a woman in her 20s woke up after a night out in Tottenham Court Road and found herself in a hotel room on Bedford Place, WC1.

She had no memory of the previous evening and was alone in the room. She found her phone and bank cards missing, and later discovered that money had been withdrawn from her account.

Enquiries revealed she had been raped by a man later identified as Nazmul Ahmed, who had also defrauded her of around £3,000 with the assistance of Dora Vavrova, his partner at the time.

Less than a month later, on 27 March 2019, a woman in her 20s accepted a lift home from Nazmul Ahmed after leaving a bar in Shoreditch.

After getting into the front passenger seat, she fell asleep in the car and woke up to find him sexually assaulting her.

He later dropped her off at her home address, where she realised he had taken money from her bank account.

She reported the offences to police who arrested him the following day after identifying him through CCTV, bank enquiries and forensic results. This also linked him to the earlier offence on Saturday, 2 March and later, to the first incident in September 2018.

Their enquiries later identified that his brother Selim Ahmed was responsible for a similar attack on Sunday, 27 January 2019.

A woman, aged in her 20s, was waiting for a bus on Great Eastern Street, EC2 at around 00:25hrs when she was approached by Selim Ahmed in his car. He told her he was a taxi driver and that he could take her home. A passenger in the car, Levi Croll, reassured her this was the case and so she got into the vehicle.

She was then driven around residential streets while Selim tried to obtain money from her bank account and sexually assaulted her when they briefly got out of the car.

Selim was arrested at his home address on Wednesday, 19 June 2019 and later charged.

On Thursday, 13 February at Wood Green Crown Court, Nazmul Ahmed was found guilty of one count of rape, two counts of assault by penetration, one count of theft, one count of fraud and one count of money laundering.

At the same trial, Dora Vavrova, of Euston, was found guilty of fraud by false representation and acquiring criminal property and on Friday 1 May was sentenced to a community order with an unpaid work requirement of 140 hours.

Detective Inspector Louise Caveen, from the Met’s Central North safeguarding team, led the investigation. She said: “Nazmul and Selim Ahmed are predatory offenders who have deliberately targeted vulnerable women to sexually assault and defraud them.

“Through a large scale and detailed investigation, my team were able to link the Ahmeds to this pattern of behaviour, which they continued to deny in the face of overwhelming evidence. Thankfully my team were able to prove their involvement beyond doubt. We continue to investigate whether they have committed other offences.

“I would like to thank the four women who gave evidence in these cases and I hope that the sentences passed will be of some comfort to them, as well as ensuring other members of the public are protected from the these men.

“My officers are trained to give specialist support to victims of sexual offences and I would urge anyone who has been the victim of such behaviour to come forward and speak to us.”

Image credit: Metropolitan Police