A bogus taxi driver has been jailed for seven years for sex attacks on passengers in Manchester.

Khurram Raja was also ordered to be placed on the sex offenders' register for life.

Raja, from Bradford, remained at large for more than five months and was only arrested when one of his victims spotted him near a police station.

After the sentencing at Manchester Crown Court on Wednesday, police appealed for other victims of bogus cab drivers to contact them.

Raja is a very real danger to women and there is no doubt his sentence will protect others

Detective Sergeant Mark Ryder

Raja, who denied the charges, carried out two attacks, the first last December and the second in May this year, after picking the women up in Manchester city centre.

Detectives who investigated the case said the 24-year-old, of Regency Court, Whetley Lane, Bradford, had planned the assaults.

Detective Sergeant Mark Ryder said: "These were extremely violent and terrifying attacks on two vulnerable women.

Police statement

"He is a very real danger to women and there is no doubt that his sentence will protect others from becoming his victims."

One attack, in May, happened in a car park after Raja drove his victim to her home.

He was arrested several days later, after the woman spotted him at traffic lights, minutes after giving a statement at Bootle Street police station.

Before the first attack, on 23 December 2001, a woman flagged down Raja's car in Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester thinking he was an official driver.