Monster posing as taxi driver lured vulnerable women to rape them after nights out

A man posed as a taxi driver to pick up vulnerable women from nights out and then took them to remote areas and raped them.

Nazim Asmal lured the women into his Toyota Yaris pretending to be a cabbie, but instead committed violent sexual assaults on them. He targeted women in Preston and Darwen, Lancashire, and even tried to contact one of the women again to ask if she 'wanted to do something'.

Asmal struck for the first time in October 2021, when he picked up up a woman in Preston city centre. He took her on a journey of around 10 minutes before raping her and returning her to the town centre where she had to ask a stranger for help, Lancs Live reports.

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A period of almost a year-and-a-half passed before the second known incident. In March 2023, another woman was on a night out in Darwen and was picked up by Asmal. This time, he drove her to the outskirts of the town and raped her. He managed to get hold of her phone number and called her again the following month.

She recognised his voice as he asked her 'if she wanted to do something?' On that same night, he picked up a third victim, again in Darwen town centre. As he deliberately drove in the wrong direction, he asked her: "You don’t want to pay for this taxi, do you?" Once again, he drove the victim to a secluded area and raped her.

Asmal, now 34, was arrested after police identified his black Toyota Yaris when it was picked up CCTV cameras. The homeless man, former of Balaclava Street, Blackburn, pleaded guilty to four counts of rape