Fiend who raped woman out celebrating her 21st birthday caught by driving licence he'd used as ID to get into bar
A rapist who attacked a woman out celebrating her 21st birthday in Birmingham city centre has been jailed for more than five years - after police tracked him down using an ID he'd used to get into a bar hours earlier.
Florian Lupu went on the run after the attack, but was finally arrested in West Bromwich after police stopped his car.
Lupu targeted the woman as she and two friends walked home from Broad Street one evening last summer. CCTV captured the moment he dragged her across a road to an office doorway to rape her.
The friends had taken a short cut through a building site near to the Paradise Circus development, but then realised they could not get out at the other end.
Lupu, 29, was nearby and helped the women by lifting a fence so they could get out.
Police say he tried to befriend the group, putting his arm round one woman before she shrugged him off and walked ahead.
He then turned his attentions to his eventual victim and steered her towards the road.
The two friends realised the victim was not one with them a few minutes later, and retracted their steps.
Police say they then found him attacking their friend. He fled when they shouted at him.
Police found CCTV of the attack, and other footage showing the rapist in the Walkabout bar on Broad Street the same night.
At Walkabout, police recovered an image of the provisional driving licence that Lupu had scanned in that night to allow him into the bar.
Lupu was no longer living at the address on the driving licence, but was listed as wanted and finally arrested three months later when police stopped his car in West Bromwich.
Romanian national Florian, of no fixed address, admitted rape and was today jailed for five years and four months at Birmingham Crown Court.
He has been put on the sex offenders register for life.
Dc Gavin McGrath, of West Midlands Police, said: "There are no excuses or grey areas when it comes to rape - if someone says no, then it is a criminal offence.
"I would like to commend the woman in this case for her courage and I hope today’s sentence will help her to move on with her life knowing the person responsible is behind bars."
