News, views and top stories in your inbox. Don't miss our must-read newsletter Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

A landlord used SpareRoom.com to lure women to his flat before raping them when they refused his offer of free rent if they had sex with him.

Mamun Rashid, of Tower Hamlets, London, would offer his spare room on the house-share website and purposefully advertised it to women aged between 18 and 45 years old.

The victims would get in touch with Rashid, 30, about renting the room and once they were living with him he would offer the room for free in exchange for sex.

When they refused, he would rape or sexually assault them.

Today he was jailed for 18 years at Wood Green Crown Court.

SpareRoom say it is the first offence of its kind in 14 years since the website was launched.

(Image: Googl Street View)

Rapist Rashid denied five counts of rape, one count of attempted rape, one count of assault by penetration, one count of sexual assault, one count of actual bodily harm (ABH) and one count of threatening to kill.

His three female victims, aged between 19 and 29, all gave evidence against him in a two-week trial at the same crown court where he was found guilty.

They cannot be named for legal reasons.

Rashid committed the offences between August 2016 and May 2017 from his home address in Tower Hamlets.

Rashid was caught when, on May 6 last year, a 19-year-old woman, made contact with him via SpareRoom and arranged to meet him to view the flat.

The following day she moved into Rashid's spare bedroom.

Later that evening he raped her, during which Rashid threatened to kill her if she tried to escape or call police.

She continued to scream for help and Rashid let her go.

Once safe in a friend's house, she reported the incident to police in the early hours in May 2017.

(Image: SpareRoom)

Rashid was arrested and was charged and remanded in custody.

Following the initial allegation and with the assistance of SpareRoom, police contacted approximately 3,000 people who had been in contact with Rashid via the website since he first began posting adverts on there in 2014.

As a result two further victims came forward.

In August 2016, a 29-year-old woman was raped by Rashid in similar circumstances to the first report made to police. She reported it to police a year later.

Detectives then recovered messages on Rashid's phone suggesting there was another victim.

During house to house enquiries, officers were informed that the woman had been living with Rashid before suddenly moving out.

Following this, police made contact with a 22-year-old woman in October 2017 and she made an allegation of sexual assault which occurred in April 2017.

Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now

She had been renting a room from Rashid, during which time he sexually touched her.

He will remain on the sex offenders register for life.

Detective Constable Stav Georgiou-Moran, of the Met's child abuse and sexual offences command, said: "Rashid's vicious sexual assaults of these three women were appalling and left them with not only physical injuries but also psychological trauma.

"The women have shown great courage and bravery in giving evidence against Rashid, ensuring that he is made to answer for his actions.

"I want to encourage any person who has been the victim of sexual assault to tell those close to you and inform the police."

Matt Hutchinson, SpareRoom's communications director, said: "We're appalled by these incidents, and our thoughts go out to the victims.

"The safety of our users is SpareRoom's top priority, and we've done everything we can to co-operate fully with the police, to help them bring this case to trial and ensure a conviction."