Uninsured Driver Saleh Mahmoud Taha Hassan Jailed Over Fatal Sutton Coldfield Crash

An unverified food delivery rider who discovered a vulnerable young woman collapsed on a west London pavement before dragging her out of sight to repeatedly rape her has been jailed for 21 years.

Salem Rekoub, 28, was branded a danger to the public by a judge at Isleworth Crown Court following his conviction for the predatory and opportunistic attack.

Following a criminal trial Rekoub was found guilty by a jury of three counts of rape and two counts of assault by penetration.

The court heard the harrowing details of the incident which unfolded after the victim had enjoyed an evening out with friends.

Prosecuting barrister Patricia May told the court that the woman had begun her journey home but was forced to disembark from a bus in Chelsea because she began to feel severely unwell.

After losing consciousness on the pavement she was discovered by Rekoub who was a complete stranger to her.

Instead of offering genuine assistance the defendant leant his delivery bicycle against a wall and dragged the incapacitated woman down a side road away from public view.

Ms May detailed how the 28-year-old pulled the victim between two parked cars where he committed all the sexual offences against her while she drifted in and out of consciousness.

The jury was informed that the brutal assault left the woman with 33 separate bruises across her body.

In a chilling sequence of events following the attack Rekoub attempted to conceal his crimes by remaining at the scene and providing false information to both emergency services and attending police officers.

He falsely claimed the victim had simply consumed too much alcohol and provided officers with a fake name while masquerading as a concerned passer-by.

Jurors were then shown disturbing CCTV footage of the defendant tracking the victim's ambulance to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.

The footage captured Rekoub prowling through hospital corridors and peering into various treatment areas in search of the woman until he was eventually challenged and intercepted by medical staff.

The victim subsequently regained sufficient awareness to disclose the rape to paramedics treating her which triggered a major police investigation culminating in Rekoub's arrest nine days later.

The trial heard that at the time of the offences Rekoub was working illegally as a food delivery courier despite not being a formally verified rider for Deliveroo.

Ms May informed the court that there had been incomplete checks regarding his eligibility to work.

Addressing the systemic breach a spokesperson for Deliveroo issued a statement confirming they were appalled by the horrific crimes and clarified that the defendant was not a verified rider but rather a criminal who had abused their systems to gain illegal access.

The company confirmed it has since significantly strengthened its platform access controls to combat any such abuse and continues to invest in preventing illegal account sharing.

In mitigation defence counsel outlined that Rekoub had originally travelled to Britain from Algeria after experiencing violence in his home country. L

The court was told he had previously been a talented footballer before his career was curtailed by a serious knee injury.

A brief statement from the defendant was read to the court in which he stated he was deeply sorry for everything.

However the presiding judge focused heavily on the profound devastation inflicted upon the victim.

In a deeply moving victim impact statement read to the court the woman revealed she had been left in a constant state of fear and had endured severe mental health difficulties since the ordeal.

She detailed how the trauma has caused her to experience seizures, required her to spend time in a specialist mental health treatment centre and left her deeply traumatised more than two years later. Concluding her statement the victim told the court that the incident had destroyed her life and she was no longer the same person.