Pensioner manhunt as rapist goes on run again

Dost Mohammed went on the run last year while awaiting trial accused of raping the then 20-year-old Bradford University student in April 1986.

His victim reported the attack at the time but he could not then be traced, having left the country for Pakistan.

He returned to Britain months later, however, initially to Birmingham, but remained undetected until a cold case review by the West Yorkshire Police Operation Recall team led to him being found and arrested in April last year.

Yesterday following a trial, Mohammed, now 72, was unanimously found guilty by a jury at Leeds Crown Court of the rape.

Jurors were then told that, after withdrawing £5,900 from his bank account, he had absconded in July last year after he was bailed on conditions of residence at an address in Lily Street, Bradford, that he surrender his passport and report to the police.

Jailing him for six years, Judge Kerry Macgill told the jury it had not been his decision that bail was granted but the court which had, probably felt there was little risk given his age.

Mohammed had disappeared and the signs were he had returned to Pakistan and might never serve the sentence.

But he said the conviction would still mean he was known in his community as a rapist and help the victim, who would know they had believed her account.

He praised her for having the courage to relive her ordeal and give evidence in the trial describing her as “a very brave lady.”

He said Mohammed was a coward who had “engineered” a situation where she was vulnerable, threatened to “slit her throat” and raped her.

The judge also commended the officers in the cold case process for their “dogged determination” to ensure “no stone was left unturned” in such cases.

Sophie Drake, prosecuting, told the jury at the time the complainant had obtained part-time work at a restaurant where she met a man she knew only as Mohammed who also did some work as a chef.

He appeared jolly and friendly and said he would cook her a “proper curry” one day.

That led to an invite for a meal to a flat in Ash Grove, Bradford, which turned out to be the address of another man who was also there.

She was surprised it was the other man who was cooking and felt uneasy about the situation but stayed out of politeness and accepted some whisky.

After eating there came a point where the other man left the flat and it was then Mohammed, grabbed her, pushed her on a bed and raped her although she tried to fight him off.

She immediately reported it to the police when she was able to leave but her attacker was no longer at the flat.

After the trial Detective Superintendent Colin Prime said: “The complainant in this case has finally been provided with some closure to the incident that happened all those years ago, however the book remains open. He clearly still evades justice.”