Rapist ‘cabbie’ caged after cold case

A BOGUS cabbie who raped a young woman in a taxi as she made her way home from a night out around Hoxton in 2003 has been sentenced to eight years in prison.

Astor Newton Murray, now 49, of Edmonton, north London, has been caged after DNA taken for a taxi touting offence last year matched forensic evidence.

The rapist preyed on a 22-year-old woman as she waited for a bus home in City Road at about 4am on November 9 2003.

He offered her a cab ride, which she refused at first, but when he suggested a reasonable rate, she agreed.

Murray drove the victim to an industrial estate, where he locked the doors, stripped off his shirt and trousers and raped her.

He then insisted on driving her to her home in south London with the doors still bolted before she finally managed to escape while the cab stopped at traffic lights.

But Murray was only seized after he was charged for taxi touting and assaulting police in October last year

He was sentenced to eight years in prison at the Old Bailey last Friday (September 24) and put on the sex offenders list for life after being found guilty of rape and indecent assault on September 2.

Det Con Andy Beete, the officer in charge of the Cold Case Saphire Unit investigating team, said: “Today’s sentencing shows victims of rape that the Cold Case Sapphire Unit will pursue their attackers and bring them to prosecution, no matter how much time has passed.”