Unlicensed cab driver jailed for 1995 West End rape
A cab driver has been jailed for the rape in 1995 of a woman who was out celebrating her birthday in London.
Mustafa Hassan, 68, attacked the 29-year-old victim after she and her husband left a club in the West End.
The Old Bailey heard the victim's husband had left her leaning against a wall while he tried to find a cab, but when he returned she had gone.
Hassan, of Erith, south-east London, pleaded guilty last November and was jailed for five years.
The victim, who was drunk after leaving the club on Charing Cross Road, had passed out in Hassan's car, the court was told.
She came to miles away in Croydon, south London, and found her clothes had been disturbed.
Hassan admitted the rape charge after a cold case investigation linked his DNA to the victim.
His DNA sample was on the police database after he was arrested and fined in 2005, for touting his unlicensed cab.
While sentencing Hassan, Judge Richard Hawkins said: "Her account was that she didn't realise why her husband had left her as she was so drunk, and she was crying."
Addressing the rapist the judge said: "You accept that you raped her and you accept that she was in no condition to consent.
"The effect on the victim of such a traumatic experience was plainly a very serious matter."
Steve Bailey, for Hassan, said: "He was aware that she was drunk... but not so drunk that he shouldn't commence sexual activity with her."
But he accepted that despite having realised how inebriated his victim was, Hassan carried on regardless.