Oxford News
Afghan man jailed for violent sexual offences in Wantage
Najeebullah Arab, of Mayfield Avenue in Grove, was sentenced for five counts of sexual offences committed against two women and a 14-year-old girl in Wantage, at Oxford Crown Court on Friday, June 19.
During the court’s sentencing remarks, Arab was disruptive to the court, began openly weeping and wailing, attempted to throw chairs and throw himself against the wall, and forced the judge to order him to be physically restrained and taken back down to the custody cells.
READ MORE: Major A34 traffic as road partially CLOSED due to crash
The 40-year-old, who lived in Grove with his wife, mother and four children, committed the first offence on May 14, 2024.
He watched a 14-year-old girl who was waiting at a bus stop in the middle of the day until she was alone, when he approached her and began asking her questions.
This “quickly developed into a series of unsolicited and explicitly sexualised comments about her appearance”, including saying “you have a very nice body,” “you are very, very sexy” and “I love you”.
Despite the girl telling him she was 14, he asked her personal questions, including where she lived, and repeatedly pestered her to give her a phone number until she felt ‘sufficiently frightened’ to provide one ‘to make the encounter come to an end’.
She provided the man with her mother’s phone number, and in the following days he sent the number a series of sexual messages believing it was the young girl, asking her to delete the messages ‘so her parents would not see them’.
READ MORE: Arrest for ‘provoking violence’ by Oxford Westgate centre
While on court bail for this offence, Arab committed two violent sexual offences against other women, within the same week.
On January 21, he targeted a young woman walking alone at night, near her home in Grove.
He first watched her then approached under the pretext of asking for directions, before attacking her with his hands on her shoulders and neck and repeatedly trying to kiss her.
The woman shouted at him and was able to run away, immediately reporting the incident to the police.
“Unfortunately,” Judge Emma Nott KC said, “he could not be traced or apprehended before he kidnapped and raped his next victim within less than a week of this failed attempt.”
On January 27, Arab approached a 19-year-old woman walking alone at night along a dark and largely empty road, starting by talking to her, but immediately escalating the situation.
He grabbed her, tried to kiss her and sexually assaulted her, and when she tried to resist, he grabbed her by the arm and took her away from the road.
Trying to avoid violence, she complied, but he then dragged her into a field where he “subjected her to a sustained sexual assault, culminating in rape”.
She was restrained and pinned to the ground by the offender’s full body weight, overpowering her. He then fled the scene on a bike, the court heard.
Judge Nott said: “This was a grave, degrading and deeply traumatising offence.”
READ MORE: Red Arrows to tour America with help from iconic RAF base
The two victims of Arab’s physical attacks attended the court in person to give their victim personal statement. Neither woman can be named for legal reasons.
The victim of the sexual assault addressed the court from the stand. She said: “I have had intrusive thoughts about how bad this could have been, had I not escaped you.
“After I learned about the young woman you raped, I have thought about her every day and cannot imagine how she must feel.
“I was terrified that you would inflict more hell on others or on myself again.
“You ruined my sense of safety in a place I called home and I have had to live with reminders of you every day.”
The victim that Arab went on to sexually assault, kidnap and rape just days later spoke to the court from behind a screen.
In a moving statement, she said: “Why, why did you touch me?
“Is living wrong, is just wearing clothes wrong, is being a woman invitation to touch her and grope her, does being a woman mean I can never just exist?
“Does being a woman mean to be touched as if you are nothing, as if you are a piece of dust?”
Judge Nott praised their courage, resilience and endurance to go through the legal system to see Arab prosecuted, describing them as ‘heroines’ rather than victims.
READ MORE: Train delays and cancellations expected during UK heatwave
The court heard how the Afghan national had worked for the British government’s Ministry of Defence as a mechanic in Afghanistan for 20 years before he was captured by the Taliban and tortured.
He and his family were brought to the UK by the government for their own safety.
Judge Emma Nott KC said his background provided no excuse for the serious offences he committed against the women and girl and said he showed ‘opportunistic and predatory behaviour escalating overtime, worsened by entrenched attitudes towards women and girls concerning entitlement, boundaries and consent’.
Arab was sentenced to nine years and seven months respectively for rape and kidnapping, 12 months to run consecutively to that for two counts of sexual assault, and a further five months to run consecutively for sexual communication with a child.
The total sentence of 10 years and 11 months was extended by the judge on licence for a further six years as Arab was considered a ‘dangerous offender’.
He received a Sexual Harm Prevention Order to last 20 years and restraining orders for each victim for life.
The Change.org surpassed the 500,000 milestone just before Thursday afternoon, August 6 and continues to rise at speed.
Hundreds of thousands of people across the UK are demanding the government do not let Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole out of jail early.
Some 5,000 people are expected to be released early under sentencing changes, down from 6,000 after ministers exempted rapists and “serious” child sex offenders as part of the scheme to tackle overcrowding in jails.
READ MORE: Frustrated residents demand better bus service
Cole and Bowers remain eligible to be freed halfway through their 13-year sentences after they were convicted of manslaughter in 2020 following Pc Harper’s death in 2019
As she backed the calls, widow Lissie Harper said: “Government has punched us in the gut… they should be ashamed of themselves.
“Hopefully we can make the current Government come to their senses and realise we cannot put people like this back on our streets. Justice should mean justice and serving the sentence given.”
Aileen O’Connor, who chairs the Thames Valley Police Federation, said releasing Cole and Bowers would anger and demoralise serving officers in the area.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said she supported the Police Federation in considering a judicial review.
She told Today: “I’m not arguing against early release. We’ve had early release even under Conservatives.
“I’m against early release of this dangerous category of rapists, paedophiles, killers, including the killers of Pc Andrew Harper.”
Thames Valley Police has released a CCTV image of a man they are searching for in relation to money reportedly being fraudulently withdrawn in Oxfordshire, Ascot and London.
The force said that on May 20, the suspected offender obtained the bank card and PIN number of the victim, a woman in her 20s, which were being posted to her address.
READ MORE: Launch date for new Oxford ‘traffic filter’ scheme announced
They then proceeded to withdraw thousands of pounds from the victim’s account over the next 12 days, before the woman became aware and blocked the card.
The money was withdrawn from cash machines at several locations, including NatWest, TSB and Nationwide branches in Witney, HSBC in Chiswick, Nationwide in Oxford, and cash machines at Tesco and Sainsbury’s in Ascot.
This was between 20 May and 1 June 2026.
Investigating officer, Detective Constable David Mathieson, said: “I am appealing to anyone who witnessed any suspicious activity at the cash machines between the dates we are investigating, or has information that may assist us to please get in touch.
READ MORE: Drug and car seized from ‘illegal’ Kia motorist in Oxfordshire town
“If you recognise the man in the image, or if this is you, please contact us.
“Anyone with information should call 101 or make an online report, via our website, quoting crime reference number 43260273378.
“If you don’t want to speak directly with police, you can also call the independent charity Crimestoppers 100 per cent anonymously on 0800 555 111.”
“If you suspect your card or account has been compromised, contact your bank immediately.”
Comedian David Mitchell stars as John “Ludwig” Taylor, a reclusive puzzle designer who assumes the identity of his twin brother – a detective chief inspector – after he goes missing.
The hit series also features Motherland’s Anna Maxwell Martin, with Fleabag star Sian Clifford and Scottish actor Mark Bonnar joining the cast as regulars in the second series which is due to be broadcast in August, with a third series already commissioned.
READ MORE: Ludwig creator reveals secret of series success
The detective drama set in Cambridge is one of the BBC’s most successful in terms of viewing figures for many years.
Mr Mitchell has strong Oxfordshire connections – he grew up in Oxford where he enjoyed watching Inspector Morse on ITV, and was a pupil at Abingdon School.
The BBC has confirmed that Ludwig will return for its second series later this month, with all six episodes to be released as a box set on iPlayer from the same date.
The newly confirmed release date is Thursday, August 20 at 9pm on BBC One, confirming what the BBC had previously teased only as an August 2026 return.
Perhaps an added bonus for fans is that, rather than waiting week by week, they will be able to binge the entire box set on iPlayer as soon as the opening episode airs.
David Mitchell returns in his role as John ‘Ludwig’ Taylor, now working officially as a Crime Scene Consultant for the Cambridge Police Authority, teaming up with DCI Russell Carter on seemingly “impossible” crimes.
No longer masquerading as James, he is “more Ludwig than ever”, brilliant at puzzles but hopeless at almost everything else – the fate of his brother, though, still eludes him.
Returning alongside Mitchell are Anna Maxwell Martin as Lucy Betts-Taylor, Dipo Ola as DI Russell Carter, Dorothy Atkinson as DCS Carol Shaw, Ralph Ineson as Chief Constable Ziegler, Karl Pilkington as DI Matt Neville and Dylan Hughes as Henry Betts-Taylor.
The new series also introduces new faces, including Mark Bonnar (Guilt, Line of Duty) as newspaper editor Gareth Fisher and Sian Clifford (Fleabag) as local MP Joanne Kemper.
Ben Ashenden and Rumi Sutton co-star as DC Ethan Cole and DC Caitlin Sullivan respectively.
The BBC will be hoping to repeat the runaway success of the first series.
Ludwig launched in 2024 to strong reviews and sizeable audiences, drawing more than 9.5 million viewers and ranking among the BBC’s biggest scripted hits of the year, according to the Radio Times.
It also earned a 97 per cent score on reviews site Rotten Tomatoes, cementing its reputation as a quirky detective drama with puzzles at the heart of the plot.
Mark Brotherhood is the series creator.
-
Business & Technology3 weeks agoHSBC UK & Visa test AI shopping with live payments
-
Business & Technology4 weeks agoMouser warns against viral hacks to cool overheating phones
-
Business & Technology3 weeks agoValarian lands USD $50 million backing for sovereign AI
-
Oxford News4 weeks agoNew romantasy bookshop attracts queues of customers
-
Business & Technology4 weeks agoKane tops England influencer rankings after Mexico win
-
Business & Technology4 weeks agoSNP & Palantir launch AI tools for SAP transformations
-
Oxford News4 weeks agoDWP now checking bank accounts for Universal Credit and Pension Credit
-
Oxford Events4 weeks agoHenley Festival 2026 highlights: Five nights of unforgettable performances and festival moments