Taxi driver wrongly accused of raping 27-year-old tells how he had to strip in front of strangers to prove his innocence
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk ... g-16489518
"I don't know if I will ever come back fully from this. Before this incident I was a strong person. However I'm now negative and worry that things can go wrong"
Image: Greater Manchester Police/Manchester Evening News
A taxi driver who was wrongly accused of raping a 27-year-old woman has told how he has been left broken by her false allegations.
Laura Hood, 27, sparked a major investigation by wrongly claiming a taxi driver had stopped his cab at the side of the road and then sexually assaulted her in the back seat whilst he was giving her a lift home following a drunken night out.
Police officers investigating her claims arrested Haroon Yousaf, 29, and also the driver of a different taxi with a similar number plate.
Mr Yousaf was detained in front of colleagues at a cab rank spent a total 20 hours in custody.
He even had to give intimate samples before he was released without charge and exonerated of any wrongdoing.
In a statement to court before Hood was found guilty, Mr Yousaf, a married father of two, said: ''This still affects me in my day-to-day life and I don't know if I will ever come back fully from this. Before this incident I was a strong person. However I'm now negative and worry that things can go wrong.
"This is the most disgusting thing that anyone can be accused of.
"When I pick up single female passengers I always worry that something could happen again.
"I had to take my clothes off in front of a stranger. I had tears in my eyes. I don't think this female really understands what she has done and how it has affected my life."
Police suspected Mr Yousaf had been falsely accused when he gave details of a tracking device linked to the black cab which showed the vehicle had been driven straight to Hood's home in Stockport, Greater Manchester without stopping.
There was also no evidence of physical contact between them and Hood gave a statement claiming her attacker was 58.
The other suspect was also cleared of any wrongdoing and Hood was subsequently charged with faking her account.
It emerged she made her false claims of rape after lost her gold iPhone 5s and became separated from her friends during a drunken night out in Manchester city centre in which she knocked back Prosecco, ciders and vodka shots.
Detective Constable Laura Hughes of GMP’s Police Protection Investigation Unit said: “Hood put a completely innocent man through a dreadful ordeal.
“She showed a complete lack of regard for how her false accusation would affect him and remained emotionless when police confronted her with irrefutable evidence that she was making the whole thing up.
“She has wasted the time of specialist police officers and detectives who could have been dedicating their efforts to solving real crimes and supporting real victims.
“Rape and sexual offences are among the most intrusive and life-changing crimes to become a victim of. Clearly, Hood thought that they could be treated as something trivial, and made a false report on whim.
“The real victim here was the taxi driver and I hope he finds some closure with today’s verdict.”
At Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester, Hood a human resources worker for a law practise broke down and wept as she was convicted of perverting the course of justice after the jury of nine women and three men tok six hours to reach their 10-2 majority guilty verdict. She accepted no rape took place but denied wrongdoing insisting she had she ''believed'' at the time she was sexually assaulted.
She will be sentenced on August 1 following the preparation of pre-sentence reports.
Bailing Hood Judge Julie Warburton said: “That should not give any indication that there will not be a custodial sentence in this case.
"This is a very serious matter. I maybe assisted by knowing more about the defendant and her background but I don’t feel any of the information I already have is likely to change, but it may well help with the length of the sentence.”
The incident occurred on January 7 2017 after Hood, from Stockport, had been out with friends at Revolution bar at the Deansgate Locks complex in Manchester city centre to celebrate her best friend's birthday.
Mr Yousaf had just dropped off a fare when Hood got into his vehicle at 1.10am and asked to be taken home.
Geoff Whelan prosecuting said: ''She appeared to be drunk as she did so and said she just wanted to go home as she had lost her friends and her mobile phone. She said she had £20 and asked how much it was going to be. Mr Yousaf gave her an estimate of about £25 and she asked to be taken to a bank.
''Mr Yousaf drove her to a Tesco Express where CCTV footage showed the taxi stopping there at 1.22am with the defendant getting out to use the cash machine. 'By 1.23am the taxi was driving off again and Mr Yousaf followed the directions on his satnav and took her straight home and reached the destination.
''The fare was around £26, and the defendant gave him £30 and said "keep the change'' and paid the money through the slot in the middle of all black cab taxis. Mr Yousaf then thanked her then turned around and drove back to town. That 26 minute journey was in all respects entirely unremarkable.
''But at 1.40 when the defendant got home, it seems she was quite noisy and her mother asking if she was ok. The defendant then went upstairs to her mother and stepfather’s bedroom where she was sobbing uncontrollably as she came into the room.
''Her mother asked her what was wrong and she had lost her phone. She was crying, shaking and unable to breathe and then said that she had been raped.
''Her stepfather phoned the police and the defendant said she had lost her phone in Revolution and had started to panic and asked a taxi driver take her to Stockport. She said that they were going down the road and thought it was strange because he turned left when they live on the right. She said that he stopped and the driver got in the back of the cab, grabbed her and pulled her knickers down.
''Her mother asked her why she didn't fight back and the defendant said that she was scared and that she thought that it would get worse if she tried to fight back. She said that he dropped her off at the end of the road and that he wouldn't drop her off outside the house. The defendant was hysterical as she was speaking to her mother.''
During her account, Hood claimed her assailant was an Asian male, aged about 58 with a thin face, no beard and no facial hair and claimed she was attacked about five minutes after stopping at the cash point. She said that she was convinced the taxi driver was wearing a condom and said he charged her £30 for the fare.
A specially trained officer attended the family home where Hood was found to be ''extremely distraught'' and hiding under her bedding, the court heard. She was said to be ''crying loudly and was reluctant to engage.''
In a statement to police Hood said: ''I was out with my friends in Manchester, I lost my phone, I saw people getting out of a taxi I went over to it asked how much to Stockport.
''He indicated left and I knew he was going the wrong way. He pulled up, got in the back of the taxi and I was scared - he put on a condom and pulled my knickers down to my knees kissing me all over. His hands were all over me - he then tried to have sex with me it was hurting. I didn’t say anything, I was so scared, I couldn’t fight him off, I just wanted it to end.
''When he finished he just got off me and drove me back to the top of my road. He was pulling me towards him as he was having sex with me.''
Police tracked down Mr Yousaf and arrested him at a cab rank at Piccadilly railway station after checking the CCTV at the Tesco Express cashpoint.
Mr Whelan added: ''He was interviewed and was able to give a full account of his actions. He said he didn’t take any detours, he didn’t stop off on any side streets and he dropped her where she asked him to on her road. He denied any sexual contact with the defendant.
''He then disclosed something that would turn out to be both very important in the course of the investigation and extremely fortunate for Mr Yousaf. His taxi was fitted with a tracker device that very precisely records the movements of the vehicle.
''The investigating officer spoke to the Tracker company which holds all the data for the tracker and they confirmed that the data cannot be changed by the user, and they provided the same data. They were able to add that if the taxi had turned off at any 90 degree angle it would have recorded it on the tracker.''
''Mr Yousaf was released from custody at 5:32pm on 09/01/17 having spent nearly 20 hours in detention. His taxi had been forensically recovered, he was given bail to return two days later and was given a condition not to drive any taxi.
''Intimate samples were also taken from him and he suffered the indignity of being arrested in a public place in front of his colleagues. Fortunately the tracker data meant the police took no further action against Mr Yousaf. If it were not for that tracker data Mr Yousaf may have found himself on trial for rape because the defendant made up a story about him.
''She accepts that she was in Mr Yousaf’s taxi and she accepts that he drove her home. She further accepts that Mr Yousaf did not rape her - but says, somehow that she honestly believed she was raped whilst in that taxi.''
Detectives subsequently tried to interview Hood but at home she initially stayed in her bedroom and did not come downstairs. When she eventually agreed to speak to officers there was said to be 'little or no eye contact' and she appeared 'withdrawn.'
Hood told the hearing: ''I wish I could explain why something is so clear in my head but obviously can’t be true.
''I accept there’s no psychiatric evidence to explain why I believed this to have happened.
"I went to the psychiatrists on two occasions. It was clear as day.
"What I said in interview is what I believed to have happened. I wish I could explain it. I wish the psychiatrist could have helped me. I don’t know how something can be so clear in my head but the evidence said it didn’t happen.''
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