Bogus taxi driver is jailed after raping teenager

Andrew Green, 44, of Howe Bridge Close, Howe Bridge, has been jailed for six years and nine months after pleading guilty to rape at Bolton Crown Court.

The 18-year-old woman had been at a nightclub in Leigh with friends before going to another friend's house in Atherton at around 4.30am on Sunday, July 16.

She left her friend's house looking to get a taxi home and was waiting at a bus stop on Tyldesley Road when Green pulled up in in his white Audi and told her to get in.

Thinking it was the taxi she had ordered, the woman got in the car.

But soon after setting off, she realised it was not a taxi. The doors had been locked and she was not able to get out of the car.

The woman challenged Green and he claimed that he wanted to give her a lift home, as he had a daughter of the same age and hoped that if she was waiting alone for a lift, then somebody would pick her up. As Green drove towards Astley, the woman offered him £10 for giving her the lift, but Green's attitude changed and he became extremely aggressive towards her. He then raped her.

Green is now behind bars and will remain on the sex offenders' register for life. Det Con Claire Hughes, from Leigh CID, said: “Green spotted his victim and pursued her, knowing she had nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. “It’s absolutely sickening that he tried to portray himself as a Good Samaritan when his only intentions were rape. “Thanks to the brave woman raising the alarm so quickly, we were able to move fast and find Green to help bring him into the justice system and see him jailed today.”