Bogus Keighley cabbie gets seven years for sex attack on teenage passenger

Faisel Yaqoob picked up his 19-year-old victim as she walked home from a night out in Keighley, taking her to a “secluded spot” to carry out his attack, a court heard yesterday.

He used his car, which looked like a taxi, to target a “vulnerable young woman” who had “feared the worst” during her ordeal, Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC said.

Yaqoob, 24, of Toller Lane, Bradford, was found guilty of sexual assault after a trial at Bradford Crown Court last month.

His victim and several members of his family returned to the court yesterday to hear the judge pass sentence.

Judge Durham Hall told Yaqoob: “You gave the impression throughout that you were a taxi driver and you clearly had recognised that (the woman) had had a drink.

“You must have weighed up your chances of taking that woman and abusing her without complaint.”

Prosecutor Sarah Johnston said the woman had, by her own admission, drunk “far too much” when Yaqoob spotted her walking home from the town centre on the night of February 21 last year.

He pulled up, asked if she was all right and offered her a lift. Believing Yaqoob to be a taxi driver, the woman said she had no money but got into the car.

Ms Johnston said: “She told him her address, he didn’t ask where it was and in fact drove past the turning which would have taken her to her home address. The complainant told the defendant that he had gone the wrong way. The defendant eventually pulled up at the rear of a sports ground and reversed into a secluded spot.”

The court heard that his victim managed to push him away after he began groping and kissing her. She fled from the car to dial 999, only for Yaqoob pull up alongside her and ask her to come back to the vehicle, claiming it was “only a bit of fun”.

She ran away and hid in bushes, where police found her.

Yaqoob was caught in April last year after his DNA was found to match evidence taken from the scene.

Judge Durham Hall described the victim’s 999 call, which was played to the jury during the trial, as “one of the most distressing I have ever heard”. He told Yaqoob: “It was harrowing in its content and brings home just what a terrible ordeal this was for that young lady. Clearly you had outlined to her what you wanted and intended.

“In pretending to be a taxi driver, to abduct this young woman, you were bringing into disrepute and suspicion every one of the many salt-of-the-earth people who ply a necessary trade in this city and beyond. It is right to emphasise that my experience of the real taxi driver in Bradford and Keighley is that they will go to any lengths to protect their passenger.”

The court heard the findings of a pre-sentence report which concluded that Yaqoob continued to pose a “considerable risk” to women. The judge said that, in his judgment, the report’s author was “absolutely right” to suggest Yaqoob held “not only derogatory attitudes but very dangerous attitudes to women”.

Defence barrister David McGonigal said Yaqoob continued to deny the offence and refused to accept the conclusions of the report.

Mr McGonigal said there was “clearly a very different side to this young man” as Yaqoob had done charity work.

Yaqoob had married since the attack and his jail sentence would have a “dramatic effect” on his wife, Mr McGonigal added.

Yaqoob was disqualified from driving for four years and made the subject of a sexual offences prevention order, banning him from contacting his victim or applying to become a taxi driver.