A taxi driver has been jailed for 14 years after admitting a series of sex attacks on drunk and vulnerable customers.

Ruhen Miah, 42, of Newbury, Berkshire and of Bangladeshi origin, used his job as a licensed taxi driver to attack four women who were trying to get home safely after a late night out in Newbury town centre.

Judge Angela Morris, sentencing at Reading Crown Court, told Miah that some of the victims were 'so intoxicated they had no chance of defending themselves against your sexual offending'.

The judge said there was 'a degree of targeting' in Miah's behaviour and he had abused the trust not just of his victims but also the friends who had put them in his taxi and urged him to get them home safely.

Ruhen Miah, the Newbury taxi driver rapist jailed for 14 years after attacking four women

Miah was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment for rape, five years for assault by penetration, eight years for an attempted rape and 18 months each for two counts of sexual assault.

He had previously pleaded guilty to all counts. The sentences are to be served concurrently.

The women, including three who were 19 and another who was 29, were attacked between January 1 and February 24.

There were two assaults on two different women within 90 minutes of each other in January.

Miah stopped a male friend who was with one of the women he went on attack from getting into his taxi so she was alone and defenceless.

He raped another woman in his friend's empty council flat, the court heard.

There were two victims who reported being attacked.

DNA evidence also matched Miah to the crimes and dashcam footage helped place some of the victims in the taxi.

Bangladesh-born Miah, who had no previous convictions, is married with three children.

The court heard he had described himself as a pillar of the community and had run a restaurant that closed in September 2017.

Prosecutor Alan Blake said the rape victim recalled 'he kept repeating to her 'in my country, we are very respectful of women'.'

Mr Blake said: 'Her next memory is him driving her back to the road where she lived and told her that she did not have to pay.'

She went to bed and later reported the rape to hospital staff.

Newbury taxi driver rapist's Citroen taxi he used when targeting his four victims

In her impact statement, the rape victim said: 'That night I should have been safe in that vehicle. He should have taken me home safely but he took advantage of me in the worst possible way.'

She pointed out that her life is very different now as she is not able to sleep, and suffers anxiety and depression.

She has been robbed of some independence and wonders if she will ever be able to confidently get into a taxi again.

Another distraught victim now describes herself as 'damaged goods' adding 'this will have a huge impact on my life and being able to trust'.

In her impact statement, she said: 'It is horrible that one person can have such power over me.'

She fears getting into taxis, and is no longer a strong and confident person and instead suffers from low self-esteem.

Michael Wolkind QC, defending, said Miah has 'remorse and horror over what he did' and described him as a 'good man who went wrong for a number of reasons'.

This included his business failing and his relationship with his wife going wrong.

The women had variously described themselves as 'the drunkest I have ever been,' as being 'obliterated' and having 'had far too much to drink' but all were vulnerable, Mr Wolkind noted.

He said: 'A taxi should be a place of trust. The driver should be a decent friend.

'Indeed the more drunk a passenger is, the more vulnerable she is.'