Sunderland chef who posed as taxi driver to abduct and abuse teenagers is jailed for 11 years

Sail Uddin was caught with the two girls in his car along with a collection of sex aids when police pulled him over

A bogus taxi driver who abducted and abused two teenage girls has been locked up for 11 years.

The victims got into chef Sail Uddin’s car believing it was a cab and asked him to take them home.

But instead he drove them to the seafront and subjected them to terrifying sex attacks, a court heard.

One of the girls managed to dial 999 from a mobile phone and was able to give a description of where they had been taken.

When officers stopped Uddin’s VW Polo, which contained a collection of sex aids, both victims were in the car, crying uncontrollably.

Sentencing Uddin at Newcastle Crown Court, Judge John Milford QC told him: “They got, unwittingly, into your vehicle in the belief it was a taxi.

“You, I am satisfied, after you had finished work and despite being a married man with a large family, had gone into the city centre looking for exactly what you found, which was a drunk young woman, in fact you found two.

“I have no doubt what you were looking for was to have sex with such a young woman, one way or another.

“This is a case where there was abduction and a significant degree of planning. It was a terrifying experience.”

The court heard both victims, described as “young, intelligent and have everything to live for” were left extremely traumatised by their ordeals.

Uddin, 43, of Hendon, Sunderland, was found guilty of two sexual assault charges after a trial last month.

During the trial, Uddin blamed the girls for making sexual advances towards him, which jurors rejected outright.

Prosecutor Anne Richardson said the girls were so frightened by what happened to them that they struggled to talk to the police when Uddin’s car was pulled over.

Miss Richardson said: “Both girls were described as hysterical, so hysterical they couldn’t tell the police officer what happened.

“A male police officer couldn’t calm them down.”

The court heard a female police officer managed to pacify the girls enough for them to tell her what had happened.

The teenagers had been on a night out together in February and had decided to go home in the early hours of the morning.

Miss Richardson told the court: “They left the bar, getting into a vehicle. They believed it was a taxi cab.

“The girls asked him to take them home and asked how much it would be.

“The driver said it was fine, they didn’t need to pay. He also said they would have some funk which they also found strange.”

The court heard the girls were taken to a secluded spot at Hendon beach, Sunderland, where they quickly realised they were in trouble.

One girl managed to get out of the car with a mobile phone, saying she was just going to call her mother.

Miss Richardson added: “She didn’t call her mother, she dialled 999 and contacted the police.

“She tried to describe to the operator where they were by reference to landmarks.”

As well as the prison sentence, Uddin, who was working as a chef at the time, must sign the sex offenders register for the rest of his life.

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