Hero taxi driver saved girl of 13 from paedophile
A TAXI driver and his wife have been hailed as heroes for saving a young girl from a predatory paedophile who was about to abduct her.
Satbir Arora, 39, grew suspicious when his 13-year-old passenger asked him to drive her from Bicester, Oxfordshire, to Gloucester train station – a 56mile journey.
The shy youngster was dressed in her school uniform and claimed she was about to be picked up by her friend’s father for a ‘surprise birthday party’.
When no one arrived to meet the girl and she declined to answer more questions, Mr Arora phoned the man who booked the cab, who claimed he was ‘stuck in traffic’.
He then called his wife and business partner Nikki, 38, for advice.
Mrs Arora spoke to the girl on the phone and quickly worked out that her mother was unaware of her whereabouts, and that she should have been in school.
She told her husband to lock the girl in the cab and call the police.
It later emerged the man the girl had been due to meet was Sam Hewings, 24, a pervert who had discussed kidnapping, sedating and raping victims on an internet forum. Hewings was arrested after Mr Arora gave police officers his mobile phone number. Officers found him at his home with a rucksack stuffed with knives, duct tape and co-codamol tablets – painkillers which can cause sleepiness, Gloucester Crown Court heard.
He was last week sentenced to five years in prison after admitting attempted abduction, distributing and making indecent images.
Detectives said Mr and Mrs Arora’s actions had undoubtedly saved the youngster. They have been presented with a certificate of outstanding achievement by Cherwell District Council, the taxi licensing authority in Bicester.
Yesterday Mrs Arora said: ‘ We didn’t know all the details at the time. It was only when we heard him being sentenced that we found out about the knives and the tablets. It was so chilling.
‘Really, it sent shivers down my spine. It made me very emotional just thinking about what might have happened. I can’t even imagine what he might have done to the poor girl.
‘I can’t even imagine what he might have done to the poor girl.’ She added: ‘It’s not unusual to pick up a child in school uniform.
‘Often parents will pre-book a taxi to be paid for on arrival. But the fact she was going from Bicester to Gloucester was worrying.
‘We have a 13-year- old daughter ourselves. I was very gentle with her and eventually she opened up and told me she had been speaking to this man.’
Mr Arora had received council safeguarding training just months before the incident in December 2016. He said: ‘The training was really useful. Because of the cases we read about ... I was able to recognise the signs and quickly spot it was a grooming case.’
Detective Constable Ian Bennett, of Gloucestershire Police, said: ‘I cannot praise the taxi driver enough for his actions.
‘He undoubtedly saved harm from coming to the girl and provided vital evidence for the prosecution. Safeguarding training for taxi drivers is hugely important as this case highlights, and it’s good to see it happenSize ing in other parts of the country.’