Moment man ‘posing as an Uber driver to sexually assault susceptible lady’ is stopped by police who discovered ‘rape equipment’ in his automotive

Shocking footage shows the moment police stopped a man after he was accused of posing as an Uber driver to sexually assault a vulnerable young woman.

Graham Head, 66, of Pevensey, East Sussex, was pulled over and had his vehicle searched after the 25-year-old woman gave police part of a car numberplate.

Officers say they found latex gloves, condoms, Viagra tablets, and a balaclava in Head’s silver Mercedes estate.

The woman told police she got into the car after the driver said he was an Uber at the end of his shift and offered her a free ride home in the early hours of November 18, 2022.

Seconds after fighting off the man she said attacked her, the young woman read the numberplate before the car drove off.

After screaming for help, she told a 999 operator she had been attacked by a man in latex gloves and a covid mask who was the driver of a car with registration staring L21.

A police patrol spotted a car near the scene and officers spoke to Head, 68, at the roadside in Brighton after two cars pulled him over.

On body-worn camera video played to the jury, he is asked if he has had any interaction with a female in the minutes before he was stopped.

Head told police through a blue covid face mask: ‘No, I haven’t.

‘I’m going back to Pevensey.’

Officers tell Head his personalised registration matches a partial numberplate given by the 25-year-old woman minutes before.

He tells police: ‘Definitely not me, no.’

As he is speaking, police decide to search his car with the personalised numberplate L21 GRH.

This is when they say they discovered latex gloves, viagra, condoms and a balaclava in his vehicle.

 Head later told police he picked the woman up near Brighton seafront and drove her to Hove. He said she looked worse for wear.

‘I know I haven’t done it. If I took her to the correct address, that’s not kidnapping. I never said to her I was an Uber driver, I’ve never said that ever.

‘I asked her if she wanted me to get her an Uber. She happily got in the car. I did not sexually assault that lady, I didn’t,’ Graham Head told police.

He said he did not realise they were trying to pull him over when the patrol car followed him.

PC Richard Harris said he used his blue lights, headlights and siren.

‘I didn’t see anything that indicated he was going to pull over,’ PC Harris said.

Police asked him why he had condoms and viagra in his car.

‘I’m a normal red blooded male,’ he said.

Head told police he had been in Brighton on his own to hear live music in November 2022.

He was driving with a covid mask on when they pulled him over.

Head is accused of kidnapping, attempted rape, and sexual assault of a 25-year old woman, along with assault by penetration and sexual assault of a 19-year-old woman – all of which he denies. 

The two women told police they were attacked by him in Brighton in August and November 2022.

He claims that he offered the 25-year-old a lift home but did not touch her and never met his other alleged victim.

On June 2, the first day of his trial, jurors at Lewes Crown Court were told Head was a ‘sexual predator’ who ‘slipped up’ the night he was arrested by police.

Opening the case, Paul Jarvis KC said: ‘The defendant is a sexual predator. Basing himself in Pevensey and ostensibly working as an unofficial Uber driver or taxi driver.

‘He was also looking for vulnerable young women who he could sexually abuse.

‘He carried Viagra and condoms with him, either on his person or in his car, as well as latex gloves. He would use the latex gloves to minimise the risk of leaving traces of his DNA on his victims.’

Head had two mobile phones and was ‘savvy enough’ to know that if he kept them on while he was driving, the network provider could record his movements so kept them in flight mode while he was searching for victims, the court heard.

The two attacks are said to have taken place in the early hours of August 19 2022 in Hove Park and November 18 2022 outside the alleged victim’s home.

Mr Jarvis said the first victim, who was 19 years was ‘intoxicated and vulnerable’ when she was sexually assaulted by the defendant in Hove Park.’

He said the second victim, aged 25, was also vulnerable and intoxicated in the early hours of the morning when Head kidnapped her and sexually assaulted her in his car and then drove off leaving her distressed on the roadside.

On both occasions the defendant was driving his grey Mercedes estate motor vehicle with the registration number L21 GRH, the prosecutor said.

The 25-year-old was able to remember the ‘L21’ portion of the number plate which led to police pulling Head’s car over and arresting him the same night, jurors were told.

Mr Jarvis said: ‘He slipped up on November 19 2022 in two respects.

‘First because his victim was alert enough to be able to memorise part of the licence plate for the police to be able to identify his car when they saw it.

The 25-year-old had been on a night out and had consumed alcohol and cocaine, the court heard.

She said a man pulled up alongside her and told her he was an Uber driver who had just finished his shift but would give her a free ride home.

Journeys from Middle Street, in Brighton, where the victim left Monarch Bar, to the victim’s home address were found after analysis of the satnav in Head’s Mercedes, the court heard.

Mr Jarvis said: ‘He saw (the victim) in the early hours of the morning on November 18 2022, he realised that she was vulnerable and intoxicated.

‘He offered to give her a life home but his real plan was to drive around until he was satisfied she was fast asleep so he could sexually assault and rape her.

‘He drove close to her home address and tried to rape her in the back seat of his car but she came to and kicked him away.’

The 25-year-old has since died and will not give evidence in this trial.

The trial at Lewes Crown Court continues.