A Deptford security guard who raped a woman who mistook his car for a mini-cab while on duty has been jailed.

Sola Austin Warikwah, 39, of Albyn Road, appeared at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday, December 17, where he was jailed for seven years for rape, having been found guilty in September.

He was also issued with a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO), and was placed on the sex offenders register for life.

The victim had been drinking in a nightclub in Bethnal Green before she arrived around the Embankment area in central London, encountering Warikwah in the early hours of Easter Monday, April 22, 2019.

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Warikwah, a security patrol manager for contractor Securitas, was tasked with visiting sites and patrolling areas of central London between 7pm on April 21 and 7am on April 22, including the car park in Belgravia where the victim was raped.

During her ordeal, the victim, who was in her 20s, managed to send messages to a friend.

She wrote: “I’ve been raped. I feel sick. This taxi won’t take me home. I’m scared.”

She later managed to escape the car, taking photographs of her assailant as he walked away.

Warikwah was arrested at his home address in Deptford two days later.

Detective Sergeant John Paton, of Westminster Sapphire Team in the Safeguarding Unit, said: “Sola Austin Warikwah is a predatory sex offender who targeted a vulnerable, unsuspecting woman travelling alone.

“Due to the courage and quick thinking of the victim, assistance from the public and the veracity of the investigation, a dangerous offender has been placed where he is no longer a threat to women.

“I sincerely hope that the sentence handed down today encourages other victims of sexual offences to come forward.”