A SERIAL rapist who was issued with an antisocial behaviour order (ASBO) to keep him off the streets where he preyed on his victims has been jailed.

Dahir Ibrahim, 21, a Somali asylum-seeker, was sentenced to ten years in jail after being convicted of three charges of rape. The judge’s recommendation that he should be deported after serving his sentence may not be acted upon if Somalia is still considered to be too dangerous.

Police described him as a “truly evil” sexual predator, and issued his picture as part of an appeal for other possible victims to come forward. Ibrahim was sent to prison at the end of an extraordinary series of legal proceedings in the civil and criminal courts.

He was 17 when he was first questioned about the rape of a prostitute in the Edgbaston area of Birmingham in March 2003. Enith Walker, the victim, lied to police about the incident because she did not think that they would take her complaint seriously as she was a sex worker and drug user. But Ms Walker, who is now dead, made a confidential statement to a charity about the incident, describing how a “baby-faced” Somali held a knife to her throat and raped her.

Over the next two years Ibrahim, who lived in Birmingham with his two sisters, waged a campaign of sexual violence against prostitutes in the area. He was a user of qat, the herb commonly chewed by many in the Somali community, which is said to have a hallucinogenic effect. The women he attacked were told that he would cut or kill them if they did not submit.

But none of his victims reported the attacks to police until last September, when a 43-year-old woman dialled 999 within minutes of being assaulted. Ibrahim was arrested as he tried to flee.

An investigation was opened and police became increasingly convinced that Ibrahim had raped before. In custody he revealed a deeply misogynistic streak, refusing to speak to women officers and saying in interview that prostitutes were “dirty women” and that “a woman’s place was at home, not on the street”.

In the absence of firm scientific evidence Ibrahim had to be released, as police enlisted the help of charities working with prostitutes and drug addicts to trace other victims. In an unprecedented move Birmingham City Council went to court to seek an ASBO against him and a 12-month public nuisance injunction was imposed last October. Ibrahim was barred from a number of streets in the Edgbaston red- light area.

This year the Crown Prosecution Service agreed that sufficient evidence had been gathered to prosecute him. During a five-week trial at Birmingham Crown Court that ended on Friday, several women who said they had been attacked by Ibrahim gave evidence from behind screens.

Inspector Kevin Doyle, of West Midlands Police, said: “These verdicts mark the end of a long and complex investigation where we have been forced to overcome many barriers in first controlling and now convicting a truly evil individual.

“Dahir Ibrahim preyed on vulnerable women who endured a life of prostitution and drug dependency. He is a predatory individual who selected his victims carefully and then raped them at knifepoint, leaving them emotionally and physically scarred. The victims were marginalised by much of society and, in many cases, lived with the impact of their violation in silence.

“By working with partners in both the health service and Birmingham City Council, West Midlands Police have proved that no person should be forced to endure suffering for fear of speaking out. The courage of the victims in taking the witness stand is acknowledged and applauded.”

Ibrahim was ordered to be placed on the sex offenders register for life. The judge recommended that he be deported on his release from jail.

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