Fake Blackburn cabbie jailed for 17 years for rape

Nazim Asmal, 35, lured his victims into his vehicle while they were on their way home from nights out.

While they believed he was a taxi driver, he instead drove them to remote locations to carry out serious sexual assaults.

Asmal admitted four counts of rape at a hearing at Preston Crown Court last year, but then tried to vacate his pleas, delaying the case.

The court heard he still did not acknowledge his guilt and showed no shame for what he had done.

Sara Haque, prosecuting at the same court, said the first two counts relate to offences against the same woman on October 3, 2021.

Just before 4.50am, a Dr Bullar contacted police to report he had come across a drunk and distressed woman trying to get into a house as he drove home from work in Preston.

He had taken a wrong turn and ended up driving down the street and noticed the woman was crying and shivering.

The doctor asked if she was okay to which she said she wasn’t, saying she had lost her key and could not wake up her housemate, and her phone had almost run out of battery.

He gave her a t-shirt he had in his car to help keep her warm and asked if she wanted to sit in the car before going on to offer her the spare room at his home.

While she was asleep upstairs, the doctor made the decision to call the police and explain what happened. They arrived and the victim was taken away to be interviewed.

She told police she had been on a night out with a housemate and had met up with two of his friends, but had become separated from them.

She ended up losing her key in a nightclub and her next memory was of being in a car with who she described as an Asian male, the defendant, driving around in what seemed like remote countryside.

She said at first he had seemed polite, warm and friendly, but he soon began to touch her inappropriately, which she told him to stop doing.

He climbed over the gear stick of the car and raped the woman on two occasions, one of which she did not remember but was proven by swab analysis.

In a statement the victim read to the court herself, she said she still lives with the psychological impact of what happened and said her “old life had been shattered.”

She said even the mention of Preston, a place where she had only lived for a week at the time of the incident, could trigger panic attacks.

The woman now works as a therapist but can find it emotionally draining and triggering.

She said: “I am furious someone could do this to another person. No one deserves to be violated as I was and have their life turned upside down.”

The next count related to an incident that happened on April 8, 2023, in Darwen.

Nazim Asmal cried in the dock but the judge said he showed no shame (Image: Lancashire Police/Archive)

The victim rang the police the morning after what happened to tell them she had got into a taxi and on the way the driver had taken a detour and ‘forced her to do things to him.’

She then gave a full account to the police in person on April 10, saying she had been out with family and friends drinking and watching football before meeting up with other people she knew in Darwen town centre.

The victim told police she had a vague memory of getting into a taxi near The Vault and then being in a vehicle on the A666 heading towards Bolton, and telling the driver he was going the wrong way.

She told the defendant she ‘just wanted to go home’ and at that point, he parked the car and raped her before dropping her off near her house.

She also described how on the drive the defendant had been inappropriately touching her and grabbing her over her clothing.

Police identified the vehicle she got into as a black Toyota Yaris. Police located that vehicle near Asmal's house.

Following his arrest, a Samsung phone was seized and examined which helped to identify a third victim.

The defendant was interviewed on April 10 and said he had been to a mosque in Blackburn, before going to Darwen to pick up rent from a friend and to carry out market research on takeaways in the town.

He said a female had run towards the car and asked for a lift, which he initially refused. He then said they shared a cigarette in the car.

He denied posing as a taxi driver and said the woman had asked for a lift home and he had agreed to take her.

He said there was consensual sexual activity once they were close to her home.

In a victim impact statement read to the court by Ms Haque, the woman said her life had “changed completely” as a result of the incident and she now had a “constant feeling of hypervigilance.”

“I’ll never be the same person again,” she said.

The third victim was identified by police as a result of an examination of the defendant’s phone after his arrest over the second victim.

She had been out in Darwen with friends and decided to walk home from The Bridgewater pub before the next thing she knew she was in a car travelling towards Bolton.

Asmal parked the car at the side of the road and began kissing and touching the woman before proceeding to rape her.

She recalled the defendant then dropping her at home before she went upstairs to her bedroom and tried to process what happened.

Asmal was arrested again on the morning of June 12, 2023, and in interview answered no comment to all questions.

In a statement, the third victim said: “I am not the same person anymore, March changed me forever.”

Julian Goode, mitigating for Asmal, claimed his client showed genuine remorse.

Judge Heather Lloyd, sentencing, said: “I have read references from your family, your employers, from your mosque, and a letter from the prison.

"I am sure those who have known you are astonished the person they knew as a loving son, brother, and employer has behaved as you have.

“You are clearly a different person when you have been cruising in your car outside or near clubs in the early hours of the morning.

“You have not made a mistake, you have offended in the most serious way on three separate occasions, and on two of those occasions whilst on police bail or at least under investigation.

“It’s said you are remorseful, repeated today, and a changed man.

"That may have held had you not denied your offending and made efforts to vacate your guilty pleas, thus causing more stress to your victims.

“Even now as you sit crying in the dock, you do not acknowledge your guilt.

"You may be ashamed of being caught and the consequences for you, but from the contents of the pre-sentence report you are clearly not ashamed of what you have done.

“This was targeted offending of lone, young, drunk females.”

Asmal, of Balaclava Street, Blackburn, was sentenced for a total of 22 years, 17 years in prison and five years on extended licence.

Judge Lloyd said Asmal is a dangerous offender and it will be for the parole board to decide when he is released.

Asmal will be subject to notification requirements indefinitely and was given a sexual harm prevention order forbidding him from contacting the victims.

DS Alex Rawsthorn, of Lancashire Police, said: “I welcome the sentence handed down to Asmal today which reflects the seriousness of his offending and the very real and significant danger he poses to women.

“Asmal deliberately targeted his victims because of their vulnerable state and subjected them to serious sexual harm.

"Although today’s headlines will quite rightly focus on Asmal’s abhorrent offending, my thoughts are very much with the victims who have been profoundly impacted by his appalling offending.

"As reflected in their harrowing victim impact statements, all three continue to live with the aftereffects of what Asmal did to them.

“If you or somebody you know has been the victim of a sexual offence I would encourage you to contact the police knowing you will be listened to, believed and that we will do everything we can to put the perpetrator before the courts.”

Janet Potter, deputy chief Crown prosecutor for the North West Rape and Serious Sexual Offences Unit, said: “Nazim Asmal is an extremely dangerous man who targeted lone women at night.

"He led them to believe he was a good citizen offering to help them get home safely, when he is in fact a predator who was intent on using serious sexual violence towards them.

“Asmal’s despicable actions have had a devastating effect on all the women, who have changed how they live their lives since he attacked them.

"I would like to thank them for supporting the prosecution case which has enabled us to bring him to justice.

"I hope that following today’s sentence they can begin to move forward with their lives.

“Every woman has the right to feel and be safe on our streets no matter what time of day or night without fear of being sexually assaulted.

"The CPS is committed to bringing offenders who commit crimes against women to justice.”