A 38-year-old man guilty of violently raping a woman before stealing her mobile phone in Maida Vale has been sent to prison for eight and a half years.

After pleading guilty to rape and theft at the Central Criminal Court on Thursday July 28, Olaoluwa Ibrahim, a Nigerian national who lives in Relf Road, Peckham was told he faces deportation back to Nigeria after he has served the jail term.

Ibrahim carried out the vicious attack as the victim was making her way home from a night out with friends at around 2.30 in the morning on June 24 last year.

The victim got off the bus in Maida Vale to walk the short distance home but was approached from behind by Ibrahim who tried to strike up a conversation.

The woman ignored him by running away, but he grabbed her and pushed her into a driveway where he forced her to the floor and raped her, before stealing her phone and fleeing from the scene.

The victim was able to make her way home and contacted police.

Officers were able to trace Ibrahim via extensive phone inquiries as he had made a number of calls to the victim’s new phone following the incident.

During his original interview he fully denied the offence stating that his DNA would not be found as he had not had sex with anyone. When it was found to be a match to DNA found on the victim’s clothing, Ibrahim changed his story, claiming to have had consensual sex with the victim and denying stealing her phone.

The victim is now living in Australia and to save her the trauma of having to return to the UK for the trial, officers travelled there and provided specialist computer equipment which allowed her to give her evidence remotely via a viedo link to the court.

Detective Constable Adam Knott, Sexual Offences, Exploitation and Child Abuse Command, said: “I would like to reassure the public that attacks of this nature are extremely rare. When they do occur, we do everything we can to bring the offenders to justice.

“Ibrahim has shown no remorse or honesty from the point of arrest and his deception continued throughout the trial, putting the victim through the trauma of having to recount her ordeal in court.

“I hope it is of some comfort to her to know he will now spend a considerable amount of time in prison before being deported. He is a genuinely dangerous offender and I am pleased he has been removed from public life.

“I would urge anyone who has been the victim of sexual violence to come forward safe in the knowledge that they will be listened to.”