AN illegal immigrant has been jailed indefinitely for raping a prostitute and attempting to rape another on a canal towpath in Burnley.

Nizam Ahmed, 38, grabbed his victims around the throats before carrying out the 'cowardly' attacks near the Leeds Liverpool canal.

Preston Crown Court heard that the Bangladeshi national committed his crimes at a time he had no legal right to remain in this country.

Ahmed denied one charge of attempted rape and another of rape, but was convicted after a crown court trial.

Judge Christopher Cornwall was told that Ahmed should be regarded as a dangerous offender.

He will now only be released when the Parole Board are satisfied he does not pose a danger.

The minimum term he must serve before he is able to apply for release is six years and 83 days. He was also placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life and will be automatically deported upon his release.

Judge Cornwall said: “What you did was brutal, determined and premeditated.”

He said both victims feared for their lives.

Ahmed claimed both women, who had worked as prostitutes, had consented to ‘business’ with him and no force had been involved.

He did not have sex with the first one because they couldn't agree on a price, he alleged.

But the two women said they had been grabbed by him before being subjected to separate sex attacks last August and September.

Ahmed, then of Arley Gardens, Burnley, was said to have chatted to the 18-year-old and later the 22-year-old in the town’s Colne Road area before grabbing them around the throats and dragging them to a secluded area near the canal.

The 18-year-old was asked for a cigarette before he grabbed her, placing an arm around her throat and mouth.

“He held her so tightly she was unable to breathe. At one stage she thought he was going to kill her,” said prosecutor Joanna Rodikis.

His second victim, the 22-year-old, was raped. She had gone out to get money for drugs when he tried to chat her up.

Miss Rodikis said: “He grabbed her when she went to scream. He grabbed her neck, trying to strangle her. He said he would have sex with her, whether she liked it or not.”

DNA was recovered following both attacks and Ahmed was arrested.

The court heard Ahmed came to the UK in 2002, seeking a better life, and drifted into restaurant work.

Ken Hind, defending, said Ahmed, who was of previous good character, planned to return to Bangladesh and rebuild his life.

After the case, Det Ch Insp Andrea Barrow said: “These were cowardly, unprovoked attacks on these two women and I would hope that this sentence, and that fact he will be behind bars, will provide some closure for them at the end of what has been a traumatic and distressing experience.”

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