Jagath Arachchige 46

Description

By day accountant Jagath Arachchige was charming and highly professional. But by night he was a sexual predator, driving around Bristol city centre in his blue Honda Accord targeting vulnerable lone woman leaving nightclubs who took him for a cabbie.

After picking up one woman he kidnapped her for five hours, which culminated in him sexually assaulting her. And just 15 hours later he kidnapped a second woman but failed to molest her.

The 44-year-old of Eighth Avenue in Filton, denied wrongdoing. But a jury at Bristol Crown Court convicted him of kidnap and sexual assault, as well as kidnap and kidnap with intent to commit a sex offence, in December 2017.

Judge Mark Horton handed him a 16-year extended sentence, comprising of 12 years' custody (two-thirds to serve) and four years' extended licence. He found Arachchige to be a dangerous offender, telling him: "It is clear that whilst you present to the world as an engaging, charming and able accountant with an apparent calm and quiet manner, this mask perfectly concealed the callous, and deliberate deception and manipulative skills of a predatory sexual offender."

Judge Horton barred Arachchige from working with children and vulnerable adults. He also ordered him to sign the Sex Offender Register for life.

The judge, who commended the police investigation, added: "I also wish to comment that in this case both of the victims were in no way careless in their behaviour in the case. Both sought what they reasonably believed were a lawful taxi driver providing them with security to get themselves home. Their trust and the steps they had taken were deliberately exploited in a planned way by this defendant."

The court was told Arachchige turned to extra-marital websites after intimacy in his marriage declined. In November 2017 police found him in his car at renowned sex spot with an inebriated student. Officers removed her from his car and gave him strong advice about his actions, the court heard.

Some two weeks later Arachchige picked up an inebriated young woman who had left a Bristol nightclub and, instead of supposedly giving her a taxi ride home, kidnapped her for five hours - which included a trip to a sex spot and even booking a room at a motel. The court heard the episode culminated in Arachchige groping her bare chest and trying, but failing, to touch her intimately under her clothes.

When the woman claimed her mum was in the police, Arachchige took her home. But just 15 hours later Arachchige struck again, the court heard. Having picked up another woman who assumed he was a taxi driver he detained her in his car before she managed to get out of his car unmolested.

Richard Posner, prosecuting, read impact statements from both women in which they said they had struggled with anxiety after their ordeals and had trust issues as a result. One stated: "I feel it is going to stay with me for the rest of my life."

Robert Morgan-Jones, defending, said: "Intimate relations with his wife ceased. He was isolated and alone in the relationship, feeling very much rejected with his sexual and emotional needs not being dealt with."