Vauxhall: Predator kidnappers targeted women at nightclub

Two men worked together to target women at a nightclub before kidnapping them.

Dhari Alshammari, 27 of Hester Road, Battersea, was convicted of kidnap and rape following a trial at Isleworth Crown Court. Badr Alhadidi, 39 of Talbot Road, Birmingham, and was convicted of kidnap.

A police investigation was launched after one of the women reported to police that they had been on a night out and couldn’t remember a portion of the evening. She said she remembered being pinned down in a car and sexually assaulted in a room. Investigators used CCTV footage to piece together the crimes.

In the early hours of the morningon Saturday, July 16 Alhadidi and Alshammari appproached their victims in a nightclub along the Albert Embankment in Vauxhall. CCTV footage inside the club showed Alshammari pour vodka into some glasses while Alhadidi waited for the women outside the toilets.

All four left the club around about 6am and Alhadidi and Alshammari forced their victims into a car, manhandling them and having to support them to stand where they were incapacitated.

They drove the women to an address at Beauchamp Mansions, Kensington. Further CCTV footage showed Alshammari drag one of the victim-survivors along the pavement. Both were forced through a doorway where they collapsed.

Inside the property Alshammari raped one of the women. He then went to a nearby McDonald’s before returning to his home address.

Later that morning, Alhadidi drove the woman to a petrol station in another area of London and left them. The women were seen on CCTV falling over and falling into traffic, where they were still incapacitated on their walk home.

Officers arrested the two men two days later, on Monday, July 18. The men were shown the CCTV footage in their interviews, and police said both laughed and maintained that the complainants were sober and consented.

Detective Constable Tony Larkin, who led the investigation, said: "Alhadidi and Alshammari are two predators who set out that night with only one sinister intention in mind. They had a clear plan of how they were going to target the victim-survivors and thought they could get away with it. They’ve shown no remorse and have no idea how much harm and distress they have caused. The CCTV footage reviewed as part of our investigation was harrowing and showed real violence and monstrous treatment of the victim-survivors.

“I would like to thank the victim-survivors in coming forward and reporting this to police, they have been extremely brave. No matter when someone choses to report a rape or sexual assault, detectives will always listen to and support you.”

The pair will be sentenced at Isleworth Crown Court on 26 May.