Man found guilty of raping and killing NHS worker Natalie Shotter in London park
A man has been found guilty of the rape and manslaughter of an NHS worker he attacked on a park bench.
Warning: This article contains details readers may find distressing
Mohamed Iidow “repeatedly” sexually assaulted Natalie Shotter, 37, while she was passed out in Southall Park, west London, following a night out.
His trial heard the mother-of-three died of a heart attack caused by the 35-year-old raping her “again and again”.
Mohamed Iidow was convicted of rape and manslaughter. Pic: Met Police
It can now be revealed Iidow has a previous conviction for sexual activity by seeking to groom young people online – which was not disclosed to jurors during the trial.
Ms Shotter was found dead by a passer-by in the park in the early morning of 17 July 2021, the Old Bailey heard.
Victim was ‘deeply unconscious’
Iidow had denied the charges against him but declined to give evidence during his trial.
He claimed the sexual activity was consensual, but CCTV footage showed she was “deeply unconscious” during the attack, jurors were told.
Prosecutors said Ms Shotter was lying down, showing “no clear movement” for around half an hour before Iidow approached her “nonchalantly”.
Following the attack, he drove to his home in Hounslow, west London, via a Shell garage where he stopped to buy cat food and mouthwash.
Iidow will be sentenced on 13 December.
Mum-of-three ‘had so much to give’
Ms Shotter’s mother, NHS cardiology practitioner Dr Cas Shotter Weetman, welcomed his conviction.
She said: “We’re delighted for her children and that we finally, finally, after three-and-a-half years, have got justice for Nat.”
Dr Weetman added: “She was a beautiful, beautiful girl, an NHS worker, worked for charities, mother-of-three, just the most amazing soul, [and] kind.
“She had so much to give, so much more to give.”
Read more from Sky News:
UK braces for Storm Ashley
Ex-detective jailed for stealing drugs from work
Niall Horan pays tribute to Liam Payne
Kirsty O’Connor, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “The investigation was extremely complex and involved working closely with the police and expert witnesses to establish what had happened to the victim and what led to her death.
“During police interviews, he stated that the victim was alive and consenting to the sexual activity with him. However, CCTV footage has proved that to not be the case, with the victim unconscious during the entire attack.”
Detective Chief Inspector Wayne Jolley, who led the Scotland Yard investigation, described Iidow’s attack as “disturbing and shocking”.
He added: “This case has deeply affected those involved, due to its rarity and tragic details…
“I commend the strength of Natalie’s friends and family who have had to listen to these details throughout the trial. Iidow is now facing a long term of imprisonment.”
Specialist search teams, police dogs and divers have been dispatched to find two sisters who vanished in Aberdeen three days ago.
Eliza and Henrietta Huszti, both 32, were last seen on CCTV in the city’s Market Street at Victoria Bridge at about 2.12am on Tuesday.
The siblings were captured crossing the bridge and turning right onto a footpath next to the River Dee in the direction of Aberdeen Boat Club.
Henrietta Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Eliza Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Police Scotland has launched a major search and said it is carrying out “extensive inquires” in an effort to find the women.
Chief Inspector Darren Bruce said: “Local officers, led by specialist search advisors, are being assisted by resources including police dogs and our marine unit.”
Aberdeenshire Drone Services told Sky News it has offered to help in the search and is waiting to hear back from Police Scotland.
CCTV of the sisters. Pic: Police Scotland
Read more from Sky News:
Trump to be sentenced today over porn star hush money
‘It’s an apocalypse’ – families return to homes reduced to ruins by wildfires
The sisters, from Aberdeen city centre, are described as slim with long brown hair.
Police said the Torry side of Victoria Bridge where the sisters were last seen contains many commercial and industrial units, with searches taking place in the vicinity.
The force urged businesses in and around the South Esplanade and Menzies Road area to review CCTV footage recorded in the early hours of Tuesday in case it captured anything of significance.
Drivers with relevant dashcam footage are also urged to come forward.
CI Bruce added: “We are continuing to speak to people who know Eliza and Henrietta and we urge anyone who has seen them or who has any information regarding their whereabouts to please contact 101.”
Glasgow has been a city crying out for solutions to a devastating drugs epidemic that is ravaging people hooked on deadly narcotics.
We have spent time with vulnerable addicts in recent months and witnessed first-hand the dirty, dangerous street corners and back alleys where they would inject their £10 heroin hit, not knowing – or, in many cases, not caring – whether that would be the moment they die.
“Dying would be better than this life,” one man told me.
It was a grim insight into the daily reality of life in the capital of Europe’s drug death crisis.
Scotland has a stubborn addiction to substances spanning generations. Politicians of all persuasions have failed to properly get a grip of the emergency.
But there is a new concept in town.
From Monday, a taxpayer-funded unit is allowing addicts to bring their own heroin and cocaine and inject it while NHS medical teams supervise.
A dirty needle thrown less than 100 metres from the new injection centre
It may be a UK-first but it is a regular feature in some other major European cities that have claimed high success rates in saving lives.
Glasgow has looked on with envy at these other models.
One supermarket car park less than a hundred metres from this new facility is a perfect illustration of the problem. An area littered with dirty needles and paraphernalia. A minefield where one wrong step risks contracting a nasty disease.
Drugs paraphernalia in a supermarket car park in Glasgow, near the new facility
It is estimated hundreds of users inject heroin in public places in Glasgow every week. HIV has been rife.
The new building, which will be open from 9am until 9pm 365 days a year, includes bays where clean needles are provided as part of a persuasive tactic to lure addicts indoors in a controlled environment.
There is a welcome area where people will check in before being invited into one of eight bays. The room is clinical, covered in mirrors, with a row of small medical bins.
Clean needles are provided to lure addicts to inject in a controlled environment
There are eight bays users can inject in
We were shown the aftercare area where users will relax after their hit in the company of housing and social workers.
The idea is controversial and not cheap – £2.3m has been ring-fenced every year.
The aftercare area
Read more: ‘Dying would be better than my £1,000 a month heroin addiction’
Authorities in the city first floated a ‘safer drug consumption room’ in 2016. It failed to get off the ground as the UK Home Office under the Conservatives said they would not allow people to break the law to feed habits.
The usual wrangle between Edinburgh and London continued for years with Downing Street suggesting Scotland could, if it wanted, use its discretion to allow these injecting rooms to go ahead.
Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts
The stalemate ended when Scotland’s most senior prosecutor issued a landmark decision that it would not be in the public interest to arrest those using such a facility.
One expert has told me this new concept is unlikely to lead to an overall reduction in deaths across Scotland. Another described it as an expensive vanity project. Supporters clearly disagree.
The question is what does success look like?
The big test will be if there is a spike in crime around the building and how it will work alongside law enforcement given drug dealers know exactly where to find their clients now.
It is not disputed this is a radical approach – and other cities across Britain will be watching closely.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports9 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway