A fake Uber driver who attacked two women with a vile rape kit he kept in his car has been jailed for a second time. 

Graham Head, 68, from Pevensey, near Eastbourne, roamed the streets of Brighton and Hove at night with latex gloves, viagra, condoms, and a balaclava stored in his car.

Head, labeled as a serious threat to women, had his initial conviction overturned by the Court Of Appeal in November 2024 after he lodged a complaint regarding the judge who oversaw his first trial.

But now he has been jailed for a second time following a retrial in June. 

The new jury at Lewes Crown Court found Head guilty of kidnap, attempted rape and assault by penetration relating to two women in Brighton. 

His original jail term was reimposed at a sentencing hearing on Friday, August 29

His original jail term of 23 years behind bars was reimposed at a sentencing hearing on Friday, August 29

The court heard despite overwhelming evidence and two trials, he maintains his innocence.

The dangerous predator drove around central Brighton looking for ‘suitable’ victims, preying on young women who were often vulnerable.

He would pose as a taxi driver before inflicting ‘disturbing levels of violence’ on the women he picked up in his car.

Judge Christine Laing KC informed Head that he would continuously pose a danger despite his denial of the violent acts he could commit.

One of Head’s victims, who tragically passed away in December 2024, recounted how she awoke in the back of the illegitimate taxi to Head attempting to undress her, as her mother relayed to the court.

During the attack, the woman fought off Head and got out of the car where she spotted, and memorised, his personalised number plate before he sped off.   

After screaming for help, she told a 999 operator she had been attacked by a man in latex gloves and a covid mask who was the driver of a car with registration staring L21.

She told police she got into the car after the driver said he was an Uber at the end of his shift and offered her a free ride home in the early hours of November 18, 2022. 

A police patrol spotted a car near the scene and officers spoke to Head at the roadside in Brighton after two cars pulled him over.

On body worn camera video played to the jury, he is asked if he has had any interaction with a female in the minutes before he was stopped. 

Head, from East Sussex, told police through a blue covid face mask: ‘No, I haven’t. I’m going back to Pevensey.’

Officers tell Head Head his personalised registration matches a partial number plate given by the 25-year-old woman minutes before.

He tells police: ‘Definitely not me, no.’

As he is speaking, police decide to search his car with the personalised number plate L21 GRH.

Officers found latex gloves, viagra, condoms and a balaclava.

Police later found incapacitating spray and an extendable baton at his home and detectives believe there are more victims who have not yet come forward. 

Head later told police he picked the woman up near Brighton seafront and drove her to Hove.

He said she looked worse for wear.

‘I know I haven’t done it. If I took her to the correct address, that’s not kidnapping.

‘I never said to her I was an Uber driver, I’ve never said that ever.

‘I asked her if she wanted me to get her an Uber. She happily got in the car.

‘I did not sexually assault that lady, I didn’t,’ Graham Head told police.

He also said he did not realise they were trying to pull him over when the patrol car followed him.

PC Richard Harris said he used his blue lights, headlights and siren.

‘I didn’t see anything that indicated he was going to pull over,’ PC Harris said.

His mobile phone had also been placed on flight mode and his internet search history was found to include phrases such as ‘if a mobile phone is switched off can it still be traced’.

There were also multiple searches around nightclub opening times in Brighton, East Sussex and Surrey, as well as information on Brighton student nights. 

Police asked him why he had condoms and viagra in his car.

He replied: ‘I’m a normal red blooded male.’

Her tearful parents told Head the 25-year-old was robber of a ‘bright and promising future’. 

‘Her torment was undiminished until her tragic early death.

‘You robbed my gorgeous girl of the bright and promising future she was building.

‘We will probably never know if her trauma was the primary cause of her death.

‘She said she could not survive a retrial,’ her mum said.

Her mother told the court that her young daughter will grow up without a mother and the rest of the family have lost a sibling, cousin and granddaughter.

The retrial also heard that Head changed his story after initially lying to police about having contact with the woman the night he attacked her.

She remembered part of his personalised number plate and police spotted his car near the scene.

Head, wearing a covid mask to cover his face, told police he was driving home and had not been with anybody.

He later admitted driving the young woman home.

During the retrial, the jury heard that the predator had earlier attacked another teenage woman in a park after picking her up in central Brighton.

The 19-year-old who cannot be named for legal reasons was attacked on August 19, 2022.

Head picked up the 19-year-old and took her to the park on the other side of the city before dragging her in to bushes in Hove Park by a man in the early hours of that morning.

CCTV footage from that investigation showed the victim approaching a silver Mercedes estate, which was then tracked through city centre CCTV and doorbell footage driving slowly along the road near Hove Park. 

‘The defendant was intent on sexually assaulting her,’ Paul Jarvis KC for the Crown said.

She texted a friend as she was being attacked at 0416 on August 19, 2022.

Managing to get to her mobile phone, the woman texted: ‘I’m being raped.’

‘When her friend called back, the defendant was startled.

‘He got up and ran off,’ Mr Jarvis said.

The woman suffered injuries including bloodied knees, bruising on her ankles and wrists and grazes on her hands.

The second jury agreed he had attacked her and another young woman in Brighton in August and November 2022.

He was found guilty a second time of kidnapping, attempted rape and sexual assault.

Head shook his head and said No as the verdicts were returned.

Her Honour Judge Christine Laing KC said: ‘The defendant has tried twice now to persuade a jury despite what some might say was extremely compelling evidence.’

Head was only apprehended after his 25-year-old victim fought him off and memorised part of his number plate.

The mother of his second victim said: ‘I feel strongly that I need to protect the anonymity of my own and my daughter’s friends and the families and friends of GRH’s victims.

‘However, I want to recognise and say my own deep thanks for the strong and compassionate support that my daughter, myself, and our family have received from the Police, the CPS, the witness service, and the Courts over the past two years.

‘I’m especially grateful for the attuned support of the Sexual Offences Investigation Team (SOIT) and the Independent Sexual Violence Advocacy (ISVA) service who supported my daughter every step of the way through the challenges of bringing this man to justice on both trials.’

Head, of Pevensey, East Sussex, told police he had been in Brighton on his own to hear live music in November 2022.

HHJ Laing said a posthumous High Sheriff’s medal will be presented to the family of his second victim who reported the number plate to police.

‘I’ve no doubt her actions not only led to his arrest but prevented other young women from becoming victims,’ the judge said.    

Her Honour Judge Christine Laing KC told Head: ‘There is something in you that you give into on these occasions and it is very difficult to see when, if ever, you will not present a risk.’

The judge said Head had shown he was a sexual predator who preyed on vulnerable, young woman and was capable of a disturbing level of violence.

Sentencing him for kidnap, attempted rape and sexual assault, the judge told Head: ‘You were driving around central Brighton, clearly looking for a suitable victim.

‘A young woman at the end of her night out, you appearing to be be Good Samaritan, pretending to be an Uber driver.

‘I have no doubt at all you are the very definition of dangerous, in common parlance and by the legal definition.

‘This is the second trial with the same outcome.

‘The degree of evidence was overwhelming.

‘You are still not prepared to accept what you are capable of.’   

The sentencing comes after the tragic death of the 25-year-old second victim whose death is being investigated by a coroner. 

The young mother passed away after hearing she would have to go through another trial to keep her attacker in prison.

Lewes Crown Court heard she died knowing she could not face the gruelling ordeal of a retrial.

In a harrowing personal statement, the mother of his second victim said her daughter died knowing he could be freed.

Addressing Head, she said: ‘Her last words were; “Help me, please, mum. I am in hell. I cannot go through another horrendous trial again”.

‘I want you and the judge to understand a little of what her life was like before she made the massive mistake of getting into your car.

‘She was studying at university, she had a boyfriend, a huge group of friends.

‘She had very many people who loved her greatly.

‘She was also a young mother with a daughter who was only three years old.’

Her daughter had struggled to understand why she had been attacked.

‘On that day, the happy and promising life she was enjoying to the full was taken from her.’

She added that her daughter’s post-traumatic stress was so complex that she she developed agoraphobia so severe that she struggled to leave the house, even with the support of her trusted friends..

In a statement she added: ‘She couldn’t work. She couldn’t do any of her everyday things without fear. The independence, joy and freedom in life that all women are entitled at her age to enjoy had all been stripped away by you.’