This program me contains discussion of rape,
strong language and sexual content that some may find upsetting
This is well-known app for sex. It's a gay sex app.
This is my profile.
You can put the weight, body type, age.
Bottom, top.
Clean-cut. Daddy. Leather.
This "BB", it means bareback sex, meaning no condom.
"Meet at my place."
So it means I am not looking for a date.
You do not need to rape because I can meet very good-looking guy
every five minutes.
I can send him the address and he come here, BLEEP and go.
It's crucial that we find the truth.
Police! Police!
Hands behind your back!
Got to question everything.
Believe nobody.
It's almost a game of chess, trying to get them to slip up.
This is your opportunity to talk to me.
Overnight, a complaint of rape has been received
by Bedfordshire Police.
Officers are dispatched to arrest.
Can we just come in quickly? Yeah, yeah. Is that all right?
0¥, Mohammed. Mm?
Listen, I'm placing you under arrest for rape. OK? Sorry?
You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if
you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely
on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.
Do you understand? Yeah.
Rape? I don't... Yeah, but I don't know what...
I haven't finished. The grounds for the rape, OK,
on the 9th of September, OK,
you allegedly raped a male over the age of 16 in this premises.
OK? The necessity for your arrest is to protect a vulnerable person.
OK? To secure forensic evidence and to conduct
a prompt and effective investigation by means of questioning.
Thank you, guys.
The suspect, 33-year-old Mohammed Altaher, ...
Just take a seat. Just watch...
...is taken into custody
and the case is passed to the Rape and Serious Sexual Of fences Team
at Bedfordshire Police.
Um, so victim's come forward to Sussex Police yesterday,
reporting a rape on the 9th of September,
um, in our area.
Um, victim has named the suspect
and the address that it took place in, the suspect's flat.
First account at the moment, met on Grindr,
um, agreed to go to his flat.
Suspect sent him a naked picture of himself.
Victim agreed to go to his flat, and ultimately, things moved
very quickly and forcibly inside the flat...
...and victim was anally raped.
Rape is not gender-specific,
it's not sexual-orientation-specific,
it's not cultural-specific.
It can happen to any person.
You know, this crime is one down from murder.
The game that we're in is getting to the truth of the allegation.
CHUCKLING: Already? It's very early in the day to be eating chocolate!
I normally wait till at least, you know, five hours into the shift.
LAUGHTER
All right. Cheers, mate. Bye.
The victim, Andrew, is a 32-year-old Australian national
on a visit to the UK.
We've got some injury photos.
He's got some bruising.
He said the suspect's pinned his legs behind and then
sort of held him down.
That one's quite nasty, isn't it?
DC Lesley Horton has taken a statement from a friend
of the victim, who was with him on the day of the reported rape.
Bye.
So she said she's dropped him off just before one.
She leaves,
she drives, from there, back towards her home address,
and she said eight minutes later she gets this phone call.
She just says... Eight minutes after dropping him off?
Eight minutes after dropping him off, he's rang her and said,
"I need you to come and get me."
So she's immediately turned around because she can
tell something's wrong.
And she said, "I dropped him off and he was happy, normal Andy,
happy guy. She said he just sits there and is like,
"I don't want to talk about it."
And she's unfortunately made a bit of a joke, saying, "Bloody hell,
"that didn't take long." Yeah. You know, "Didn't even offer you
"a cup of tea,” or something like that. And then he's just said,
"I've been violated.
"Um, he's pinned me down and..."
Yeah, and basically disclosed to her what had happened.
At the bottom of the statement, it says, like, um, you know,
whatever happened in there has affected him
because he's been so different.
Yeah.
No change. Bye.
CCTV, house to house. Yeah, definitely.
Get into his Grindr account and see how often
he's actually using this service for meeting men for sex.
Yeah, yeah. I've got two officers downstairs already, so we're ready
to go, basically. I'm on it.
Right, I've got my phones, guys. Right, Sarge.
I'll be back soon. See you in a bit.
Just take one of these with me, just to keep me going, no?
CHUCKLING
I think it's a one-bedroom flat.
He's going to show you the CCTV? Yeah. OK, perfect.
It's nice to have so much security on the place.
It looks very professional, doesn't it?
I think we'd be seizing the whole box, then.
Lubrication.
Harnesses.
Do you want...? Do you want to get on, doing that? Yeah, I'll do that.
There's three of them. We've swapped all three.
Yep. Uh, we've had a look for blood.
There's no real blood or anything, is there? No.
CCTV and two mobile phones are seized from the suspect's apartment.
One's an iPhone.
Yeah? Yeah, one's a Samsung. One Samsung.
Both password-protected.
Plan is now, um, is to make the phones a priority?
Yes, please.
Go and, um... Interview.
DC Jo Tyrrell and DC Hayley Carroll will interview the suspect.
It's horrible falsification.
I am doctor at university,
control system engineer.
My specialisation is very seldom in the United Kingdom,
cannot be rarely found.
I am not in a position, excuse me, to jeopardise my legal status
in the United Kingdom, my job.
So I'm not stupid to do something like this.
BEEP
Time by my watch is 1354 hours.
During the interview, we'll be asking questions
about this of fence for which you've been arrested for,
and the purpose of this is to give you an opportunity to provide
an account which may assist to prove or disprove your involvement
in this matter. OK? No problem.
33-year-old Mohammed Altaher is under arrest on suspicion of rape.
Talk me through your movements between around 10am on
the Monday the 9th and sort of 1.30 in the afternoon.
Tell me what you did, where you went.
I met a guy who was visiting from Australia.
OK. His name, I think, Andy.
He came to my home, we kissed each other,
and I had consensual sex with him.
At the end, when I finish, ejaculated,
I saw the guy felt nervous,
and I said, "Excuse me, what's happening to you?"
So I touched his cheeks and I kissed him. Yeah.
I said, "Why are you feeling like this?"
He said, "Mohammed, is not your problem.
“It's something related to me. It's not your fault.
“It's not your fault." The duration of his stay in my home,
no more than three, four minutes, maximum.
You can check the CCTV. And the other thing
I want to draw your attention, he is bigger than me, four times.
So if he touched me with his hand, I will just die, honestly.
Australian, big boy. That's all,
and it was consensual sex, with his consent. OK.
And you can check the CCTV for the duration of...
We're going to do that. We'll do that, but let's go back to the
beginning because I need to understand, OK, everything that
happened on that day. Yeah. All right?
So how did you come to start talking on Grindr?
Talk me through that. Because he liked...
He said, "Ethnicity is a turn-on for me."
So I thought because of my ethnicity, is Arab. Yeah.
And he is my type. Very good-looking, blonde.
And I gave him my address on...
...on WhatsApp and he came over. OK.
How long have you been on Grindr?
Uh, a long, long time, yeah.
What would you use Grindr for?
It's like any gay person, it's for sexual...
We are promiscuous culture, so we just meet guys on Grindr
and have sex. And that's what it's for?
So you meet just for purely sexual...? Yeah. That's what is...
...what is it for, Grindr, yeah. OK.
And how many men do you think that you would normally meet on it?
Maybe five a week. Five a week?
And how long do you think you've been meeting these guys?
Since 2010, in the United Kingdom. OK.
And no-one made allegation like that. OK.
So let's go back to when you first met each other.
Talk me through that initial sort of contact.
What happened, initially?
He's come to your home address. OK.
I said, "You're very good-looking, nice..."
And he was smiling as well. Nothing... There is nothing...
I am surprised, actually, there is a complaint being raised
to the police. OK. I am actually surprised and shocked
why this is happening at all. OK. So talk me through.
You've got into the bedroom.
Yeah, and I had sex with him consensually. OK.
And I finished quickly, actually.
Actually less than ten seconds, inside ten seconds. Right, OK.
That's all, honestly, consensual, and I didn't have any...
I didn't force any sex, I swear to God. I think...
Do you understand what rape is?
Do you understand what the term rape means?
Anything non consensual,
and he was consented to the sex and to the anal, actually.
He asked me to fuck him.
At any time, did he try to push you off of him?
No, under no circumstances. Never.
At any time, did he tell you, "No," and to stop?
Never. I am innocent, innocent, innocent. And...
You've not been charged with anything, OK?
Like I said, this is to get your account, all right?
Thank you very much.
Are you back in the office? Yeah. OK, perfect.
Hopefully I'll be back soon.
Are you able to give me a quick brief?
Yeah, so, quickly, what he's saying is,
yes, he's agreed that he's come to the house.
Um, they've been kissing passionately and ended up
in the bedroom.
Start having sex, but he's saying it was all consensual afterwards.
He meets about five-plus guys a week to have sex with.
Um, he tried to say that all homosexuals are promiscuous,
um, and that's just the way it was, basically, that's what he was trying
to say to us. OK, all right.
He was all very much, "I'm very innocent,” but he was very vague
around the details of the actual of fence itself.
Is there anything other than the obvious
that I need to ask our victim?
Right, so things like, "Where did he put his penis?”
"Did you feel anything?" - ie, like, pain and stuff like that. Yeah.
Sex is a consensual act that you have with another person.
Rape is something which is forced upon you.
Consent is the be all and end all
in every situation where you're engaging in a sexual act
with somebody else.
But at the end of the day, there was only two of us there.
OK, Andy, in as much detail as you can, tell me what happened.
Uh, so I buzzed his apartment, and I was let in. Mm-hm.
Um, and as I made my way to the front door of the apartment,
um, he must have heard me coming because he opened the door.
He immediately, um, grabbed me
and started kissing me, and I thought it was really strange.
There was no hello or anything like that whatsoever. Mm-hm.
And I'm like, "OK, well, this is kind of what I came here for, so...
"..OK, great.”
But he was being very forceful.
Um, so I said, "Slow down."
Yeah, yeah. "It's OK." Yeah.
Um, so then we walked into his bedroom and he pushed me
down on to the bed, and I just thought, "This is a bit strange
"because he's already undressing himself, and I've been here for
"not even a minute.
"Um, but, OK, let's see where this goes."
I don't really feel in danger just yet. It's just a bit strange. Mm.
Um...
He said, "Oh, have you got any chems?"
As in drugs or something like that.
Um, and I'm like "No, I don't do that." Mm-hm.
Um, and that made me feel more uncomfortable
because it immediately kind of scares me. Mm-hm.
But I didn't really expect what was coming anyway. Mm-hm.
So, basically, what he did was he sat on top of me straight away
and tried to put his penis into my arse. Mm-hm.
Um, so I had many things going through my mind.
The first is, "Well, this is really quick!
“I'm not even aroused yet."
You know, "I've been here for about a minute and he's already
"trying to do that, like, no lube or anything." Mm-hm.
And I just said to him, you know, "This is going a bit fast.”
You know, "If you want to do that, that's fine,
"but we've got to use lube." Mm-hm.
"I can't do it without lube because it hurts too much." Mm-hm.
And then he pushed his penis back into my arse.
Um, and I said, "Ouch! No, that hurts. Stop."
Mm-hm.
Um, as he penetrated me again,
he actually put his legs on both sides of my legs
and was pushing them together really hard. Right.
I couldn't move, basically. Mm-hm.
And then I'm just like, “I'm just going to have to sit
"here and deal with it and wait until it's over."
So I remember just pushing my hand on to my face like that and just
closing my eyes, basically, and waiting for it to be over.
OK.
In that interview, you learn to be very impartial.
It's important that, you know, you sit down and you explore
both accounts and all the investigative inquiries
that come out of that.
The fine-grain detail is the difficult stuff.
It's actually talking about what has happened to them,
something that's very personal, very intimate.
Consent is very difficult to prove,
so we have to get into the mindset of the perpetrator.
Why did they think that the victim was consenting?
In as much detail as you can,
you say that he has tried to put his penis in your arse
and you've...you've reacted. Yeah.
So describe to me exactly how you reacted.
Pretty intense reaction. Mm. So I was like, "Ow!" You know?
"Stop. That hurts." Yeah.
"We're not doing this without lube." OK.
Had you had a discussion about using any...?
I mean, how did you prepare his bottom for sex? You mean lube?
Yeah. well, did you use any of that?
I have a lot of precum. A lot of what, sorry?
Uh, precum... Precum. Oh, precum.
A lot of precum, more than the lube. Right. More than the lube.
He said, "Mohammed, it's hard. Can we use the lube?"
By the time I brought it, I came already.
So that's it. Right.
When I said, "Ow!", that's the second time,
he actually pushed me down
as I've tried to get up again. OK.
And how far did your penis go into his bottom?
I don't think it's so far. Not really. Not...
Yeah, but how far is not really? Probably like this.
He pushed it all the way in immediately,
so obviously I reacted again, "Ow! Stop." Yeah.
To which point he just kept going, like, pounding. Mm-hm.
Um, and then he said, "I'm going to cum in your arse. Is that OK?"
And I'm just like, "I don't have a choice.
"You're pinning me down." Yeah.
He didn't give me the impression he's uncomfortable at all. OK.
Did he say ouch at any point? Did he say ouch...? Yeah, sorry.
I'm sorry, he can handle bigger than mine.
How would you know that? Because he's too big.
The guy's too big.
He's experienced bottom, no?
I said, "I am coming," and he kept it.
He kept... He wanted it.
Yeah. He stopped moving, so he wanted the cum inside him.
I remember sitting down on the train and I was sore already,
and it had only been half an hour or so.
Um, so the Met organised the next day to go to A&E.
I had to take swabs of my...
...anal cavity, I suppose,
and then that's when I just broke down again. Yeah.
Because, you know, I've got it...
I'm in a clinic, lying on a bed,
and I've got three women looking at my arse, and they're taking swabs
from inside of me... Mm-hm.
...and I just... HE EXHALES
That's when I'm just like, "How did I get myself into this situation?”
Mm.
You said at one point he'd stopped moving.
Yeah, yeah, he like... Because in the sex, you know, you move.
So you're saying that he did ask to use lube...
Yes, he did, and I stopped. And you stopped... Yes, I stopped.
...but you also ejaculated. Yes.
And he stopped moving at that point.
Yeah, but normally the move is, uh, like, normal, the sex.
That's normal practice to move in the bed.
OK.
He has quite significant bruising to his legs and to his forearms.
I...I don't know about this.
I'm actually shocked. He's also... You're shocked? I am shocked now,
what are you talking about?
He's also had to attend Accident and Emergency because of injuries
to his bottom.
I don't... To be honest, I don't know about this.
You don't know about that? No.
So that wouldn't be from you trying to force your penis
into his bottom without any lubricant? No.
Under no circumstances.
Just purely, absolutely no consideration
for my feelings whatsoever... Mm-hm. ..or for my pleasure.
Like, it's almost like I could have been a blow-up doll
and the result for him would have been the same. Mm-hm.
That's how I felt. It was purely for him to get himself off,
and that was it. OK.
Um, OK. I've got no further questions for you. OK?
So I'm going to conclude this interview at 1448 hours.
BEEP
I do not want to live here any more.
I do not want to live in the United Kingdom.
It's not my wish.
I had to leave Iraq because I am homosexual
and my life will be subject to persecution.
For example, if they were to find, like, I'm gay,
it would be sentenced to death.
But I would rather to die in Iraq,
rather than living and subjected
to this degrading treatment.
Well, there was... They knew why he was going there. There was...
The victim has been quite open about that... Yeah.
...and about why he was coming.
His issue is, generally in these situations,
there's conversation, agreement...
which there was none of when he arrived. ..when they arrive, about
what they wanted to do and how it was going to work and protection
and all that kind of stuff. Yeah.
And it's that, that it's happened very quickly
and been very forceful, that,
because you don't need me to tell you that
that is undermining in some ways... Yeah.
...and we need to be very open with the CPS about that. Yeah.
So we're saying, yes, our victim knew why he was here,
he's told us that he was there for sex... Yeah. ..but not in the
manner that it was... That it's occurred,
and the fact that, when he's been... he's told him no, and as soon
as he's said, "No, we need to... Ouch! Get off me," kind of thing,
"we need to use lube,"” and he's continued.
Because the victim obviously describes himself as freezing.
And then he's carried on. That's what... You clarified that point
as well, didn't you? And he said,
"And that's when he's ejaculated inside."
He's saying that the stopping of the movement was indication
that he was willing for him to cum inside.
Oh! I know.
OK. Rather than pulling away. Interesting. Yeah.
That's an interesting, um...
Concept. ..concept.
Yeah.
I think that's the landlord.
The victim's, like, got surf-blonde hair,
bleached blonde hair. Oh, OK.
The cyber unit analyse CCTV footage seized from the suspect's flat.
What time's that?
12:00, according to that.
Dropped off by taxi, was that, or a friend? Friend, I think.
Is this the only camera, or have we got...?
No, we've got the other ones for this.
Apparently, starts, like, trying to kiss him almost straight away.
So if you've got one of him in that corridor...
Um...
There he is.
The world's not a perfect place,
and there are people out there that lie.
You know, we're not here just to turn around and hit someone
with a large stick and say, you know, "You're guilty."
You have to look at both sides.
And it may not be as crystal-clear as what that person
has actually said.
She's interested to know how he comes out of there in terms of...
OK. But the lady that dropped him off said he literally,
like, less than ten minutes later,
so, you know, when he leaves, if he's obviously been
sexually assaulted, if he skips out, then, you know,
there might be an issue.
This is him leaving.
Yeah? Yeah.
Distraught? Mm...
Hard to tell, really.
Good afternoon. Bedfordshire Police. How can I help?
We've obviously been given a certain amount of information,
but you may hold more that we could possibly present
to the Crown Prosecution Service.
If you were able to provide me with the victim's personal details,
it would massively strengthen our case.
Oh, right. No problem. OK. Leave that with me.
All right, then. Thank you. Bye-bye.
It's came to our attention that we have two male rapes...
...that were reported by a sexual health clinic.
Yeah. Both of those males have named Mohammed
and given his address
as the scene for both of those rapes.
OK.
So, yeah, interesting. Very.
A very active, we believe... Yeah. ..sexual attacker, really.
Mm. Sexual predator who's preying on men in a certain way.
Did he meet these men in the same way as he met our...?
Grindr appears to be the common denominator. Right.
So I've approached to see if they are willing to disclose
the victim's details,
bearing in mind we're dealing with a serious crime here.
To give the sexual health clinic time to decide
if they will reveal the names,
the team are granted an extra 12 hours to keep their suspect
in custody.
Um, is everybody OK to stay on at the moment?
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah?
Let's all say no and leave Clare by herself!
LAUGHTER No!
We'll see you tomorrow! Bye, Clare! Bye! No, I'm joking...
Well, we don't all have to stay till the very end... Aw!
We're all in it till the end! We always do.
We always stay together. You are a diamond.
DOG BARKS
Since the incident, Andrew has been looked after
by a friend in Bedford.
It's not really something that's reported much, that it happens
to males, so when it does happen to a male, there's a lot of shame
around that.
It could happen to anybody. Yeah.
You can't pigeonhole a victim, can you?
You know, I've never had a bad experience.
Everybody that I have met through Grindr
has been respectful of me.
It can, ironically, be a safer way of meeting people,
especially if you are not yet out to your friends and family.
You know, I did arrange to meet somebody, but they have no right
to do what they did.
When you're in that situation, you just...you just don't know
how you're going to react. And it was literally, you do
what you need to do in order to get out safely. Yeah, yeah.
The cyber team are examining
the contents of the suspect's phone for evidence.
Having examined, you know, several hundreds of phones,
it's kind of an eye-opener into...
It almost kind of gives you a look at what that person's like.
We can try and have an idea of whether you're a wrong'un or not
by what they're Googling.
Yes, they can wipe data, yes, they can wipe photos,
but we can also recover them.
Uh, hang on a second. I've just got...
He's got himself down as 28, height 170, weight 65, muscular...
...Middle Eastern, single...
...clean-cut, jock, twink.
You say you found chat between the two?
I've got the corresponding chats here.
All right, OK. Because this isn't... He hasn't got that on here.
He's obviously deleted the chat from here.
Um, looks like we've got nothing from between the 3rd and the 11th.
He has kept previous conversations between other people
before that date, so it's kind of a little bit suspicious
that he's only deleted that message stream, but...
The Grindr chat stream is missing from the suspect's device
but can still be read on the victim's phone.
This is his Grindr account. OK.
The victim says, "Hey," and then says, "You're beautiful.”
Then he sends that.
We can't get away from the fact that we have to explore how they met
this person, how they interacted with them, what communication
went on beforehand.
Yes, they may well have gone round there for sexual intercourse,
but the terms of that agreement can change, and therefore that consent
can be withdrawn.
It's a bit worrying, actually, not having used Grindr before,
trying to find how to navigate it. So the last thing you want to do is
start liking things and stuff like...! Swipe left, "You're hot...
LAUGHTER "..you're this!" Um...
No heart facilities that you can tap on!
LAUGHTER That's always a bit worrying.
To strengthen their case against the suspect, the team
still need to identify the two new potential victims.
Just waiting to come back to us with those other victims.
That's our threshold test, isn't it? You know, if this is a
continued repeat offender.
Jo's going to go back in to interview.
Any information through yet at all? No.
Oh, oh, actually, coming now.
Oh! Oh!
Stand by. Standing by.
"Will not be disclosing this information today."
Any reason why not? "Given the nature of this case and the sensitivity of the personal
"information you have requested, we respond to say that we will not be disclosing this
"information today. We have to consider whether the public interest
"overrides the duty of confidence we owe the patients
"and will therefore be discussing this further
"before providing you with any further information.”
The overriding factor is patient confidentiality, isn't it?
Yeah, but the risk to the public, surely... We could be having a bit
of a battle here.
Let's see how he reacts to this.
Even though police lack a positive ID, the suspect is rearrested and
interviewed about the two further rape allegations
in the hope he might identify the victims himself.
The date is Friday the 13th of September.
Time by my watch is at 2113 hours.
OK, Mohammed. So you've been further arrested on suspicion of
two more of fences of anal rape. OK?
The further of fences have occurred on two separate dates
and involved separate victims.
It's been alleged by the victim that on the 4th of the 8th,
he has willingly attended your client's home address
after meeting online and talking to each other.
I don't remember... You don't remember that incident? No.
OK, let's go back, then, to what this guy is saying, then.
If you can't remember in relation to this... I mean, this is a
very serious allegation. I never raped someone.
Anyone comes to my home, it's consensually having sex with me,
otherwise I wouldn't meet him in the first instance.
OK, so I know what you're saying because prior to this interview,
we had the first interview, you said that it's always consensual,
that these males come on the pretence that they're going to
have sex with you. Yes, that's what they... They turn up and
have sex with you. Right, OK.
And I have a lot of, you know, guys are jealous of me.
You know what I mean? On Grindr, jealous of my attention,
on my... The... Why I have more attention than them,
why I reject them. Some guys, I said, "Excuse me, not my type."
So they feel jealous, and... That's why they would make an allegation
of rape? Of course. That's... You are intelligent.
Gay culture are jealous, based on jealousy.
"Why he's having more sex than me?
"Why I don't have the same attention?" Right, OK.
You deleted your WhatsApp.
Yes, because of the...a lot of messages and disturbance
from the Grindr as well.
When did you delete it?
Uh, I don't remember.
So you're telling me that all three of these incidents that we
talked about today are consensual? Mm-hm.
You're saying that three men have all come to your home address
and they're all alleging that you've raped them after meeting
them on Grindr. Mm-hm.
But the truth of the matter is that you've lured them to your flat
and raped them in the belief that they would not report these matters
because they're all very vulnerable, aren't they? That's your opinion.
Come on. It is my opinion, but I'm asking you. Can we talk about facts,
not opinion, please? I mean... That is my opinion.
Grindr is a gay site. People meet for sex. Yeah, all three males do
not know each other. What reason...? No, these guys... You don't trust
anybody to come to his house. I'm sorry... You're asking questions...
You're answering questions on behalf of your client. No, no, you're...
You're answering questions on behalf of your client. You cannot do that.
No, no... No, I'm not, but I think that you're implying things
which are not correct. I've asked him a question.
I never... We've answered that question. No comment.
You've answered the question. Forget it now.
Is it true that you're just a predator and you prey
on vulnerable...? No comment. OK.
I've answered, it's your opinion.
OK. If you've got nothing further to add, then, I will conclude this
interview at 2155 hours on the 13th of September, 2019.
BEEP
The team have been working on the case for 16 hours straight.
CPS.direct.
We need a charge on this man.
DS Gilbert puts the case to the Crown Prosecution Service
with the evidence they have so far.
I don't know, I'm 50-50 on it as to whether we'll get it.
Give it a whirl. Give it a whirl.
In cases where we feel that the of fence is so serious
that it justifies an immediate charging decision, we can approach
the CPS on what we call the threshold test.
I need some inspiration in relation to why he's a flight risk.
Ultimately, what you are asking for is,
"We haven't finished our investigation here, but we feel
“that there is a reasonable grounds
"to suspect that they have committed this of fence, and by releasing them
"while we do all those extra inquiries could ultimately mean
“that they could continue to commit more of fences on the public,
"or they may well not answer bail or not come back,
"be a flight risk, disappear.”
I think what you can also put in there is, um, that he's sort of
got some kind of addiction towards having sex
with unknown males, and that's what is the concern.
If he's allowed to... That he's going to carry on.
DC Lesley Horton is tasked with presenting the case to the CPS.
They will decide whether or not to charge Mohammed Altaher.
No, it's not a stranger rape.
It's a male victim who has met
with the suspect via the app Grindr.
The issue is consent, yeah.
The suspect is saying that at no point has the victim said,
"No, stop."”
Well, our victim has been completely open and honest about the reasons
why he went there.
He's not suggesting for one second that he hasn't gone there for sex.
However, his consent has immediately been withdrawn
when he has said, you know,
"I'm not going to have sex with you unless you use lubrication.”
The suspect then pushed the victim down on to the bed,
pushed his knees on either side of his legs, held him down,
and then forcibly raped him for about 20 seconds.
However, we also have two further
reports from two separate males
who have disclosed that
they have also been raped
and named our suspect.
All right. Thank you.
They want to read it themselves? Yeah, he wants to read it.
He just said, "Is it not undermining?”
I said, "No, not at all." No, well done.
Good. That's how we need to turn it around.
That...that's for a court to decide, whether the fact that he went there
for sex undermines what subsequently...
It doesn't, does it? It shouldn't... It shouldn't,
but that's not for CPS.
That's for a court to decide. Yeah.
We're kind of running out of options at the minute.
While the CPS deliberate, Steve Gorman has managed to access
a second seized phone, which has been identified
as belonging to a friend of the suspect.
Well, that was quick.
Oh, there we go.
Steve has found a voice message
Mohammed has sent about the incident
with the victim.
I don't know whether you want to just come and have a quick listen.
So this is a message stream within WhatsApp.
MOHAMMED: Australian boy, gorgeous.
Once I put my dick inside him, I came immediately.
He felt nervous and was shaken and left with his friend,
now outside to come collect him.
I mean, I don't know, I didn't do anything.
Uh, and he left, was shaken. I'm not sure, what is this?
Did you get all that? Yeah. Yeah.
He does say, "But I didn't do anything."
But actually what he says there is he...he was shaking.
So he is accepting that the victim was presenting in that way.
OK.
That makes it sound as if there had been some sort of issue
at the scene.
Hello. We've just had some more information come in.
Just wanted to pass it across to you.
The CPS is updated with the new voicemail evidence recovered
by the cyber unit.
Our suspect has sent voice messages about the fact
that he's just had a beautiful, um, Australian man.
And then he said,
"And he was shaking and nervous,”
and then he said, "but I haven't done anything wrong."”
Yeah. SHE EXHALES
WHISPERING: We really want to charge him.
OK. Can I just say one thing?
My... Me and my Sergeant are sort of -
I'm sure you can probably tell -
quite keen to get this chap charged,
but can I just ask you to speak to my Detective Sergeant?
She's just literally stood next to me.
Would you just have a quick chat with her?
Thank you.
Obviously, I value, you know, your thoughts
and what your perspective is in relation to how challenging
a case it is.
I mean, I just, you know, wanted to sort of express on you how, um,
we as an organisation are very concerned as to the risk
that this male poses should he be released on bail.
The suspect has not, um, accounted for the injuries that the victim
has got in any way, shape or form.
Um, OK. Perfect. Thank you for your time. Thank you.
Cheers. Bye-bye.
He said they're very difficult charging decisions to make and that,
you know, he wants to go to another supervisor.
Mm. Well, we can't do any more. No.
I don't think we can put it across any stronger than we have. No.
I've been nine years in the United Kingdom
without any criminal of fence.
Ten seconds, ten seconds of sexual...consensual sex.
They said it's rape. This is hilarious.
PHONE RINGS Ooh!
Hello.
Hiya.
Um, we've got, you know, some concerns, evidentially.
You know, the fact that he's got no previous convictions. Mm.
We didn't think it was an appropriate case... OK.
CLARE SIGHS
All right. Thank you.
Thanks. Bye.
There was no point me saying anything else.
I don't understand it.
Can't really get...
As for a rape case, you can't really get a lot more,
unless someone's just watched him.
It's...
It's just so, so, so frustrating.
Yeah.
In my 23 years,
I think rape is probably the most difficult of of fences
to try and prosecute.
I feel frustration,
that decision is perhaps made too early
that a case won't progress.
RATTLING Right...
We don't feel that bail is appropriate because the of fence
is so serious, there is a risk to the public.
It's very difficult for us to police any kind of bail condition
that could potentially stop further of fences from happening.
I do wonder why somebody could do this to somebody
and then be set free.
I know that the CPS has their rules
and their laws, and everything needs
to be done correctly.
Um, but it's very difficult to know that this happened to me and, uh,
that they've been released from custody.
The fact that he is still around and could potentially do this
to somebody else is something that does frighten me.
"I want to fuck you." That's it. Mm!
How many times do you think you've had sex since being released?
Ten. Ten, that's nothing.
Since September 10th. That's nothing, yeah.
I fucked this one. I fucked this one. I fucked this one.
The guys I meet are beautiful.
I fucked this one. I fucked this one. It's a lot.
It's an addiction. Addiction.
But it doesn't mean you rape people.
No, because plenty of attention...
If this one not good, the other one is good.
PHONE CHIRPS
"Hi, good-looking, man."
You see, any guy I like, I can get.
He is my type.
Oh, my God...
Grindr is, uh, not a dating app.
It's a sex app.
And how many men do you think you're meeting? Say 4,0007?
4,000 guys.
I think so, yeah, honestly.
Because the videos are exceeding 4,000.
I can send him the address and he come here, fuck and go.
There's no need to rape or anything like this.
Rape is the force, taking the clothes,
force having sex, it's not consensual.
The police are judging because they do not understand the culture.
CLARE: In the Telegraph this week,
the headline was, "Rape convictions at record low."
The report said that the number of rape suspects referred
by the police to CPS for a charging decision fell 22.8%.
Bedfordshire Police receive another new allegation of rape.
We've just had another gentleman come forward.
He came forward yesterday to report that he's also been
raped by the suspect.
Yeah. No, that's fine.
I mean, obviously we haven't interviewed him yet.
Um, so we're just sort of putting things in motion
for today's inquiries.
Bye-bye.
SIREN WAILS
Police decide to re-arrest 33-year-old Dr Mohammed Altaher.
Right, Mohammed. I'm here to arrest you.
It's alleged that you've raped a male in August.
Oh, it was the same, the one I was arrested?
No, this is for another one.
11th of August or what? No, this is completely different.
I don't know...
It's an allegation you've been arrested on suspicion of.
Yeah, but, excuse me, allegation, false allegation.
We're going to be conducting a Section 32 search on the address,
and we're going to be looking for a couple of items, OK?
OK, let me just go into the shower first.
Does this case that we're looking at today predate the previous one?
The original job, 9th of September. OK.
This one happens on the 12th of August. OK.
This one actually came first, chronologically. Yeah, yeah.
So we're talking a month prior to the one we've already
interviewed him for and bailed him out on, yeah? Yeah. OK.
What do we know about our victim today?
Why has he reported it now, rather than August?
So he's then started having these sort of flashbacks... Oh, OK.
...to this incident... OK. ..which has caused him to come forward.
Cos there was two that were... we were aware that went
to the hospital, didn't they? Yeah.
And then we got the incidents reported to us via intelligence,
but obviously the hospital wouldn't disclose any of those details.
Because this chap has gone to the health clinic. OK.
Sexual health clinic. Yeah.
Um, and it was them that encouraged him to come to the police. Good.
Does this incident that we're looking at today
match the details of either of those two, or not?
I need to look at that. OK.
I haven't quite... Can we look at that one thing, first of all? Yeah.
And then we'll have another picture. Yeah. Cool.
This man's a predator, I tell you.
SHE SIGHS
The more victims that come forward, the more information
we have, can help to strengthen the case.
It's about building that bigger picture.
We're looking for consistencies with what happened
to our first victim.
And then we use those consistencies to put to our suspect,
and he will have to account for that in interview.
I want to talk to you about your movements on
Monday the 12th of August, between roughly 12:00 and 6pm.
Now, I know it was a while ago, but obviously
this is a serious allegation.
Do you recall meeting anyone at that time on that date?
Not really. No.
OK.
Um, OK, so let's talk about James, then.
Do you know who this male is? Not really.
It doesn't even ring alarm.
You mentioned about meeting people on Grindr. Yeah.
Um, would you have met...?
You possibly met this guy through Grindr?
I... To be honest, I don't remember because I...
I don't remember.
The only guy I met, I... But I don't remember in August,
Jamie from Dunstable. Is he from Dunstable? OK.
So tell me about Jamie from Dunstable, then.
Jamie is a lovely guy and I enjoyed sex with him,
and I had amazing sex with him, and... OK.
...I do not recall any problem.
What is your understanding of the term "consent"? Consent?
He asked me to have sex with him. Consensual.
That's what he came for, to my home.
Do you remember...? Consensual, and he was lovely.
And, Jamie, I was very romantic with him.
OK. Because Jamie is...
I'm interested in him, actually, as a boyfriend.
And I would not do this with Jamie.
You wouldn't do that with Jamie?
So are you implying you do it with other men? No, but I'm...
Because... No, I told you, Jamie, I am interested in him,
in long-term relationship.
What I am saying is hypothetical.
PC Heather Hutchinson takes a statement from the new victim.
BEEP
We met on Grindr, and met him with the intention
of having sex with him.
When you first got there, what happened?
He walked me in. Mm-hm.
He started kissing me.
And then he, um, undone my shorts
and pulled them down.
Even when I've met other people before, there have been some
sort of conversation, but with him there was none.
It was like, "You're here now. We're having sex."
And what was said when you first got into the flat?
Not much. It was a bit awkward, so didn't really say much.
He just started kissing me.
And then he introduced me to the, um...the drugs,
which were called Mcat.
Did you take any illegal drugs on that date with Jamie?
No, not really, no. Not really? No. Or no? No. No, OK.
Do you...do you take illegal drugs? No.
Do you know if Jamie took any drugs on that day?
No. He didn't? No.
Because he's made reference to the fact that you, um,
you encouraged him to take Mcat.
What can you tell me about that?
Not...not really. Not really?
No, no, I don't, I don't have this... Excuse me,
police searched my home and I do not have this.
So we snorted it...
...then we started to have sex, and that was all fine.
It was consensual. We were both enjoying it.
We were taking more of the drugs.
He climaxed and then I can't remember what happened exactly,
how it happened, but then I started to be sick.
It was almost like there's two parts to the day. OK.
So the beginning of the day, everything was fine,
we were both having a good time.
When it all finished, that's when things started to get bad.
Do you know what Mcat is?
No.
So it's an illegal substance
and it can make somebody very drowsy. Mm-hm.
Jamie says that you encouraged him to take Mcat, at which point
he started feeling quite nauseous, quite sick.
Do you recall him being ill at any point when you were together?
No. No? No.
This drug that I've taken has really affected me.
It made me feel quite paranoid and very slow.
And he was like, "You'll feel better if you take a bit more.
"You'll feel better."
I knew that I really didn't want to, and I was saying,
“I don't want to take any more."
All I wanted to do was rest.
No was behind me and penetrated me again.
I didn't really want to do it then, but I didn't say no.
When he, like, pulled out, it was messy.
And then Mo was shouting at me, saying, "Oh, go and clean up!"
So, Exhibit SHO1, and that's just described as a shower hose.
Mm-hm.
This is my shower hose.
I use it to clean after each bowel movement.
If they have been to the shower, it means the sex didn't go well.
Mo came in the bathroom, made me stand up in the shower...
...and then he pushed the,
um, shower inside me.
I was like, "Ow, it's hurting, it's hurting!"
And he would wait a bit longer to pull it out.
And he started, like, kissing my butt, telling me he loved me
and that he wants me to be his boyfriend.
And I remember being so confused.
My emotions were all over the place because I felt
like I had to impress him,
like I had to almost, like, perform for him.
Looking back at it, I think it was all, like, manipulation.
OK. Did you ever join him in the bathroom?
No.
No? No. OK.
And that's when he says that he's gone into.
You've gone into the bathroom. He's still feeling quite ill
at this point, and you've taken hold of that shower hose yourself.
What did you do with that shower hose?
Because he's saying that you took that shower hose
and you forcefully... No, no. ..shoved it up his bottom.
No.
Why do you think I rape people, excuse me?
I'm not... I'm the one asking the questions. I don't need to...
I'm not suggesting you have raped anyone... I have no...
Why? He has been in my home, consensual, and he left.
I didn't force him or anything like this.
So why should I alert police and...one after the other?
Am I crazy to rape someone on the 12th, on the 4th, on the 29th?
Why only here in Bedford and only in this month I'm having this issue?
Excuse me. I don't know. Only you can answer that, I think.
The rape investigation team receive an update on the dates
that the unidentified victims alleged they were assaulted
by the suspect.
Just found the dates for the other two. Yep. One was the 28th of August
and one was the 4th of August. From the hospital? From the hospital.
So there are two unknowns. OK.
And then we've got this one today, which is the 12th of August. OK.
OK. So it's in the middle of those two. In the middle.
But it does look like there is four jobs... Yeah.
Rather than the three. Perfect.
Um, don't get me wrong, it's getting better because we've got two victims
who actually corroborate one another regarding this guy's MO,
um, but there's still lots of unanswered questions.
OK, so you've gone into the bathroom and you said,
"He's come in to help me clean.”
What was going through your head?
I can't remember clearly how we went back into the bedroom, but now
I really didn't want to have sex,
and I was telling him I didn't want to.
But we started having sex again.
And then I remember being on my front, on the bed,
and he was penetrating me,
and I was telling him,
“I don't want to do this any more. It hurts."
And then he wouldn't...
He wasn't stopping.
And then I was saying, "Oh, it's really hurting, it's hurting!
"Stop, stop!"
He was like, "Just let me finish. Just let me finish."
He was getting rougher and rougher.
And then when I realised he wasn't going to stop,
I just kept crying.
And then he started to make these almost, like, animal noises.
My whole body is tensed up and I was squeezed, and my hands
were by my head,
and I was squeezing on to the pillows, and everything
about me was saying I was in pain.
I was crying, screaming, telling him I didn't like it
and, like, squeezing the bed.
It felt like it was forever and, um, he just said,
"You shouldn't ask me to stop," as well.
So he knew that I didn't want to do it any more.
And he knew that I was in pain.
He's saying that the more that he cried and the more
he told you to stop...
If I do this one, I am anticipating...
OK, you're going to need to let me finish my question
before you sort of interrupt. OK?
He said the more that he cried and told him to stop,
the more excited, sexually excited you become.
That's...that's calculating act. Now I'm really suspicious,
excuse me. He's stating he is crying and saying it hurts.
At any point, did Jamie get upset?
No.
At any point... I got upset when he... I stopped the sex. OK.
At any point, has he told you that it's hurting him
and he needs you to stop?
No.
OK, so Jamie is saying that whilst you were raping him, he was saying
to you, "Stop, stop!" No.
And you were saying to him, "Just let me finish."
Did you say that to him? No.
So you never said, "Just let me finish"?
I don't recall Jamie at any time to ask me to stop the sex.
If he'd have asked you to stop, how would you have reacted to that?
I would have stopped, actually.
OK, then I'm going to conclude this interview at, uh, 1602 hours
on the 19th of November.
I think God is penalising me with these things because I am gay.
I did nothing wrong.
I did nothing wrong at all.
I did not force anyone into sex.
I've always been kind to people.
I want to be straight and marry and go back to my country
and my family.
That's why I was praying, to be straight.
I thought, because I was going there, because I wanted to have sex
with him, that I couldn't be raped.
I felt like I wasn't in control, but I didn't feel
like he was in control either,
and that's what was really scary.
There's a real line that's been crossed.
He should have stopped when I asked him to.
This is one of the most personal things you can do
with another human being.
So when you have somebody who abuses your sexuality...
...it is something that kind of hits you to the core.
Three years and nine months after the first allegation,
the CPS decide the case is strong enough to go before a jury.
There seems to be, certainly in my experience, a greater
reluctance of men to come forward in these kind of circumstances.
It's a societal question about how people see these kind of of fences
and the violation they involve.
The difficulties in cases like this are that the jury
will approach it on the basis of,
"Well, they've gone for a sexual encounter,
"how on earth could this man be guilty of rape?"
So the Crown Prosecution Service, with the police, will seek to build
a case that shows that the victims were not consenting.
But in the first victim's case, we had an account from him
that he had engaged in a sexual encounter and then asked to stop,
and then Dr Altaher had carried on.
Now, the second victim had said a very similar account,
and it was clear they could never have been collusion between them.
So we could take the details of the second victim's account,
and what it showed was a pattern of behaviour that involved
non consensual sexual acts.
ARCHIVE: A man who raped two men he met through the dating app Grindr
has been jailed.
Mohammed Altaher violently attacked the men at his home in Bedford.
Out of his sentence, he got a total of 15 years.
SHE GASPS
But he's doing ten inside with five years on an extended licence.
Oh! So, what a result. Wow!
Yeah. What a result! Yes.
So he's gone for a while.
Oh, I'm so happy. Yes. Yes!
Yeah. What a relief, isn't it? Yeah.
It's a really, really positive result.
So, really pleased with that. Yeah.
Because it was a big, old team effort, wasn't it?
It really was. Yeah. Wasn't it? Yeah.
ARCHIVE: Upon sentencing, the judge described Altaher as
"arrogant, narcissistic and self-obsessed."
He's been jailed for ten years.
The judge certainly concluded that Dr Altaher had no remorse...
that "what Dr Altaher wants, Dr Altaher gets,
"and if what you want is sexual intercourse, then the consent
"of whoever you want it with matters to you not at all.
That as far as Dr Altaher was concerned,
"it was his pleasure, and his pleasure alone,
"that he was interested in."
I've never met anyone like that before, who wanted to do
something so horrible.
There was a long time where I was having nightmares
of it happening again.
But now, not so much.
I definitely think that I am getting stronger, but it just takes time
and lots of, um, help as well.
That's the only way you can start to really heal.
It's not something that I've done wrong.
It's something that he did.
It's something I definitely don't want to go through again.
As for, is it going to change my perspective on meeting people?
At the moment, yes.
But I'm determined to not let this affect the way that I interact
with others in my community.
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