LOST YEARS
I blamed myself after I was raped in a fake taxi 5 mins from home…it haunted me for 28 years before attacker was nailed
Cops are worried there are many more victims, as revealed in a new BBC2 documentary
IT was meant to be a night of birthday celebrations but ended in horror when a twisted taxi driver turned to rape.
Victim Karen was left unable to leave her home for years after the savage attack in Luton in November 1993.
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Her rapist was nailed 28 years later thanks to a crack team of cold case detectives who are investigating hundreds of historic sex attacks.
Predatory Zahid Majeed, 57, was jailed for 13 years in 2021 after officers in the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire major crime unit went back on the case and traced him through DNA.
The team’s work is being profiled in a two-part BBC Two programme Cold Case Investigators: Solving Britain’s Sex Crimes.
Detective Sergeant Jo Goodson warns sex offenders that a spate of convictions by the unit are a “message to anybody who knows what they’ve done and that we will get them.”
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She says "Our victims have suffered for so long and it’s about getting justice for them.”
Blames herself
Victim Karen, who has chosen not to reveal her surname, tells producers how she was raped after getting into Majeed’s car after a night out at Luton’s Coliseum nightclub.
She bravely describes her attack saying: “It was actually my 26th birthday and I was out with a group of really, really close girlfriends.
“We were having a great time, just having fun..
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“I came out of the club and turned left and walked down the road. There was one car with its window open and the man inside said: ‘Where are we going? Where am I going?'”
Tragically, Karen partly blames herself for the attack because she got into what she thought was an officially licensed taxi -despite living five minutes away.
'Rapist' arrested after 'choking & dragging woman with belt' in 'heinous' video
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She said: “I really regret being lazy that night, that’s the way I look at it. Had I walked five minutes instead of getting a taxi…
“It wasn’t until we were supposed to go straight and he did a left that I realised, hold on a minute, something isn’t right.
"After a few minutes I started to feel a little bit uneasy. He was saying things like ‘You haven’t got a clue where you’re going, do you, you stupid b***h.
“You never, ever think that something like that will happen to you.
“His voice changed….the weirdest thing was how he was kissing me on the lips like he was my boyfriend and I remember his teeth hitting my teeth and it was very aggressive and hurt my mouth.
“When you’re in that situation you concentrate on the less devilish of things (going on) and you just go into survival mode.”
He was saying things like ‘you haven’t got a clue where you’re going, do you, you stupid b***h.'
Karen
At the time, there was insufficient evidence to snare the attacker but swabs taken from Karen helped to nail him almost three decades later, thanks to advances in DNA technology.
Cops arrested family man Majeed at his home and found he had later gone on to officially become a taxi driver.
Karen says her life is now “opening up” again after he was jailed.for kidnap and rape.
But the police team fear there may have been more victims in the intervening years.
At the time of his conviction, in 2021, Det Con Hayley Dyas said: "Majeed was able to continue living in freedom for years while his victim suffered from the lasting effects of such a horrific incident, and I can only hope that his conviction brings her some comfort.
“The fact that Majeed went on to work in the taxi industry is alarming; his use of this persona to commit an atrocious offence means it is possible he offended again."
Attack on teens
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The team of cops and forensic experts also managed to track down a pervert who attacked two young girls in 2002.
Alec Housden lay in wait for his 16 and 17-year-old victims in Harpenden, Herts, before grabbing them from behind and dragging them into woodland.
He told them not to move or he would find them and rape them.
The travelling salesman was traced through DNA samples after a review of the case.
DNA traced through offenders' families
The documentary details how cops are tracing offenders through DNA matched to their families.
Forensic scientist Stephen Paddock said samples found at crime scenes can be checked against existing DNA on the police register for similarities.
He said: "A full DNA profile comprises 32 components. When we undertake a familial search we are looking for an individual who shares components in common with the unknown person. It may give an indication that this person is a father or a brother or a son, for example.
"We've looked at several hundred unsolved rapes and serious assaults. To be involved in a real life investigation and push that investigation forward, being able to give closure to a victim is all the motivation I need really."
There's only one hitch though.
Cops can't force family members to give DNA.
Detective Inspector Justine Jenkins said: "It's quite sensitive to call someone, to say we're from the police and we think you might be related to a sex offender. We have no power to force people to give DNA. We have to revert to negotiation and conversation and just see where that gets us."
The documentary tells how he was also a suspect in the case of a 12-year-old who was dragged into a ditch in a near-identical case in 2004.
The assailant was scared off by a woman walking her dog before anything sexual took place.
The girl, named as Georgia, tells how she was on her way back from a netball match when a man dragged her into a ditch and tried to attack her.
The show features footage from Georgia’s original filmed statement to police in which she describes her horror.
She says: “I was coming back from a netball match and there was this man standing by his car with his boot open..I saw a knife. And then he goes ‘don’t scream, I’ve got a knife, I won’t hurt you, I won’t hurt you’.
“Then he grabs me and I’m screaming.”
Cops say they are convinced Housden was behind Georgia’s torment - but there was no DNA evidence to support the case and he was cleared of the charge.
Forced to walk past crime scene daily
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Georgia tells the show how she was forced to walk past the site of the attack every day for years because it was on her way to school.
She said: “Something like that never really goes away.”
Georgia said she found it difficult there was no DNA to connect Housden to her attempted assault, but said: “It’s hard but then, also you know this man is behind bars.
“He’s not going to be able to do what he did again.
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“I’ve been able to get on (with things) since I was 12, so I think I’ll be able to do it again.”
* Cold Case Investigators: Solving Britain's Sex Crimes is on BBC Two tonight and tomorrow night.
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