BIRMINGHAM: Mohammed Ibrar Aslam, 47, of Hartopp Road, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, raped the woman in Halifax after a night out in March 2001.
She was taken in a car to a house in Bradford where Aslam attacked her and forced her to perform a sex act. Aslam admitted rape and was jailed for 11 years and three months at Leeds Crown Court.
Judge Simon Phillips told Aslam: “Effectively for every hour of every day for the past 18 years when she has been conscious the victim of your offence has been disastrously affected by your actions. “The overwhelming expectation is that will remain in that situation for the foreseeable future.”
The victim recalled lying face-down on a bed being raped, but had no idea where she was or who she was with. Although she made a statement to police the crime remained undetected for almost two decades.
The woman said after the ordeal that “she felt like a piece of meat being used”.
The prosecution said it could not say that Aslam was involved in abducting the woman off the street and taking her to a stranger’s house “but he must have known what had happened”.
West Yorkshire Police’s Cold Case Review Team began a new inquiry in 2018 following advances in forensics science.
Following a large-scale investigation Aslam was identified as a potential suspect for a DNA test. The court heard information about Aslam had been circulated via police and E-Border systems and on 8 January 2019 police officers from the West Midlands found him on board an Emirates flight at Birmingham International Airport waiting to take off for Pakistan via Dubai.
Prosecutor Stephen Wood said: “He was literally just moments away from leaving the jurisdiction.”