Rapist jailed after year on run

A rapist who jumped bail and fled from Nottinghamshire to France has been re-arrested and jailed for eight years.

A judge at Nottingham Crown Court told Yasser Umar, 28, of Hatton Court in Mansfield, he was guilty of a truly appalling offence against a woman.

The court heard the 19-year-old victim accepted a lift home but was driven to an isolated spot and attacked.

Umar, an Iraqi Kurd asylum seeker, failed to attend his trial in January 2007 but was convicted in his absence.

Police action

The court heard his victim, a student from Mansfield, had been to a nightclub in the town in July 2006 with friends.

She accepted the offer of a lift from Umar but he took her to a location near Sherwood Golf Course in Mansfield and twice raped her.

The judge commended a police officer who was in the area dealing with a burglary and noticed Umar's car headlights.

Judge Michael Stokes sentenced to him to seven years for the rape and a further year for failing to answer bail.