Rapist jailed after 25 years on the run

A man who raped a teenage girl and two women before going on the run for a quarter of a century has been jailed for 24 years.

Maboob Bostan fled the UK after being charged with attacking the girl in Batley in 1997 and a woman in her 20s, also in Batley, in 1998, West Yorkshire Police said.

A breakthrough in DNA evidence years later also linked Bostan to the rape of a woman in her 30s in Lister Park, Bradford, in 1997.

At Leeds Crown Court on Friday, Bostan, 54, formerly of Purlwell Hall Road, Batley, was told he would also serve an extended licence period of six years.

The court heard Bostan used a false passport to leave the country while on bail after being charged with sex offences in 1998.

Attempts were made to extradite him from Pakistan, but he was not arrested until January 2024 at Manchester Airport after flying back to the UK on his own accord.

Bostan was then charged with the Bradford offence and admitted all three rape offences at the start of his trial in July.

Speaking after sentencing, Det Insp Stephen King, from West Yorkshire Police, said: “I have no doubt that Bostan is a dangerous individual and a risk to females wherever he is.

"I’m pleased that justice has finally been done and he has been given a lengthy jail sentence."

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