Cabbie on girl rape-bid charge (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Cabbie on girl rape-bid charge

5:46pm Wednesday 21st March 2007 in

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A PART-TIME taxi driver has appeared in court charged with trying to rape and sexually assault a teenage passenger.

Saghir Ahmed, 36, of Rhoda Street, Nelson, who is also a factory worker, was arrested on Sunday morning after a 16-year-old girl reported to police that she had been attacked in a layby off West Merton Lane in a secluded lane near Barnoldswick.

Married Ahmed, who works as a private hire taxi driver on Friday and Saturday nights and also has a second job at Friendship Mill in Read, was arrested at his home and interviewed by detectives.

He was charged with attempted rape and assault by penetration on Sunday night and appeared before magistrates in Burnley yesterday.

Police said they received a complaint in the early hours of Sunday morning from a woman who said her teenage daughter had told her somebody had tried to rape her.

Detective Inspector Dean Holden said the girl had been trying to get a taxi from Earby back to her home in Barnoldswick after leaving a friend's house on Saturday night.

Her mother came to pick her up before they drove to Colne police station to report the incident.

Ahmed was remanded in custody by magistrates and will next appear at Burnley Crown Court on June 25.