Syed Ahmed and Najirul Miah have been jailed for a total of 23 years after abducting and raping a vulnerable teenager (Picture: Northumbria Police)

Two predators who raped a vulnerable stranger after abducting her when she offered to pay them to take her home have been jailed for a total of 23 years.

The victim had become separated from her friend after a night out, her phone battery had died and she couldn’t find a taxi to take her home.

She spotted Syed Ahmed and Najirul Miah parked up outside a takeaway and believed they might be an unofficial taxi.

But they were loitering in Sunderland city centre in the dead of night looking to target women.


When the victim offered them money for the relatively short journey to her home, they agreed and let her in the back of the three-door car.



Rather than taking her home, Ahmed drove to a secluded spot and they took turns to rape her before abandoning her and driving off.

During the ordeal she was told ‘you are going to have to do this’, ‘be a good woman’ and ‘do as we tell you’.

Now Ahmed, 22, has been jailed for 11 years at Newcastle Crown Court while Miah, 22, was locked up for 12 years.

Syed Ahmed, pictured, and Najirul Miah raped the woman after pretending they would drop her home for some money (Picture: North News & Pictures)

The men denied the charges, meaning the victim had to relive her ordeal from the witness box three times (Picture: North News & Pictures)

Both must sign the sex offenders register indefinitely and were given indefinite restraining orders.

Jodie Menzies, Ahmed’s parter at the time, was given a suspended prison sentence for contacting the victim on Facebook and trying to get her to drop the charges against Ahmed, offering her money and emotionally blackmailing her.

The court heard the impact of the attack has been ‘very significant’ on the victim, who now struggles to leave the house and has lost trust in people.

She said in a statement her decision to get into the car that night is something she will ‘regret for the rest of her life’.

The woman said the attack has ‘stolen her life’ and added that the men had an ‘easy choice’ that night and could have taken her home then ‘no-one would be living the nightmare they are living now’.

Ahmed, of Chester Street East, Sunderland, was found guilty of rape, false imprisonment and theft of her belongings.

Miah, of Ashwood Terrace, Sunderland, was convicted of rape, sexual assault and false imprisonment, having admitted theft of her belongings.

Because of their denials, the woman has had to relive her ordeal from the witness box three times.

The first trial resulted in a hung jury and a second trial was halted due to legal reasons.

Syed Ahmed has been jailed for 11 years (Picture: Northumbria Police)

Najirul Miah was locked up for 12 years (Picture: Northumbria Police)

After a third trial, which ended in December, both men, who continue to deny the charges, were convicted of offences dating back to 2016.

Judge Sarah Mallett told them: ‘You forced yourselves, one after the other, onto her.

‘Both of you used some force against her during the course of the rapes, as a result of which she sustained, albeit minor, physical injuries.’

The judge said being thrown out of the car after the rapes added to the victim’s ‘humiliation’ and added: ‘This episode must have been utterly terrifying as well as humiliating.’



Menzies, 22, of Thackeray Road, Sunderland, admitted attempting to pervert the course in relation to a series of Facebook messages she sent the victim in the aftermath of the attack in a bid to get her to drop the charges against him

In the messages, Menzies falsely claimed she was pregnant with Ahmed’s baby and said she needed him to look after her and the child.

Menzies was sentenced to 16 months imprisonment, suspended for two years, with a six month curfew and a five year restraining order.

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