A NIGHTCLUB bouncer who was twice spared from being deported from Britain back to Nigeria has been jailed for raping a woman in her own home – months after judges allowed him to stay in the country.
Idreez Popoola, 34, should have been deported in 2006 after his temporary UK visa expired but he was allowed to continue living and working in Britain.
In December 2011, he was arrested and was told he would have to return to his native Nigeria but he successfully appealed the ruling. Judges granted the nightclub bouncer temporary leave to stay in January 2012 because he had a wife and child.
Then, 11 months later on December 29 last year, he attacked and raped a woman in her own home.
Campaigners yesterday said the shocking case showed the need for an overhaul of immigration policy to keep dangerous criminals out of Britain.
Popoola was jailed for seven years at Northampton Crown Court on October 18 after he was found guilty of rape following a four-day trial last month.
Sentencing, Judge Lynn Tayton told him: “It was a serious aggravating factor that the rape took place in the victim’s own home as this was an abuse of the trust placed in you by the victim and has undermined her feelings of safety in her own space.”
He was also ordered to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register for life. Judge Tayton also told him he would be automatically deported back to Nigeria on his release from prison.
The court heard Popoola met his victim while working as an agency-employed bouncer outside Bar. So in Northampton town centre. Gordon Aspden, prosecuting, said: “Mr. Popoola met his victim at a McDonald’s restaurant in Northampton before taking her to a pub. He then persuaded the woman to take him back to her home, she said she was reassured by the fact he was a bouncer and thought he would have been subject to background security checks.”
The court heard that almost as soon as he was inside the woman’s house in Northampton, Popoola made strong sexual advances towards her before raping her.
A victim impact statement revealed the woman had suffered depression since the attack and had also been forced to move address as she felt her home had been ‘violated’ by Popoola.
Idreez Popoola sold mobile phone top-up cards in Nigeria before coming to Britain on a 12-month visa in 2005.
He moved to Croydon, south London, where he trained to be bouncer and gained work with an agency, which supplied a nightclub in Northampton.
He was arrested in 2011 on suspicion of providing officers with a false name but no charges were brought.
The court heard Popoola raped the woman before forcing her to drive him to a train station. Judge Lynn Tayton told him: “In order to get you away from home she drove you where you wanted to go. ‘The victim was very distressed and made contact with Rape Crisis and Samaritans. She returned to work in January but was very distressed and, after a meeting with her boss, was persuaded to report the matter to the police.”
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