A mother has told of her experience of being arrested after reporting sexual assault, leaving the predator at large for almost two years. Helen Ingham, 48, from Warrington, contacted police to report she had been the victim of a reign of terror by hotel manager Ahmed Fahmy, 45, who had been harassing women for more than 15 years.
However, police missed the opportunity to arrest him and instead handcuffed Helen and locked her in a cell overnight when she became angry that her allegations were not being taken seriously, CheshireLive reports. Fahmy was allowed to walk free and was not brought to justice until almost two years later when two other women came forward to say he had raped or sexually assaulted them at another hotel.
Police then contacted Helen for a statement and a two-week trial heard that he had raped a woman and sexually assaulted another woman in a hotel in January 2024, 22 months after Helen’s attack. He was also found guilty of sexually assaulting Helen and another woman years earlier in 2008.
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Helen, who has waived her right to anonymity, said she was staying at a posh “yacht hotel” after a Stormzy concert when she was attacked. The waitress immediately called the police, but claims they did not take her seriously, did not take a statement or arrest Fahmy for the March 2022 attack.
Instead, she said she was arrested after becoming angry and abusive because officers seemed uninterested in her sexual assault claims, and was put in a cell overnight. After a disturbing experience, Helen chose not to file her initial complaint because of the poor treatment she received, resulting in no action being taken at the time.
However, the Metropolitan Police recently acknowledged a wider investigation, which led to the review of two officers involved in responding to her case. Both officers are currently under investigation. Helen said, reflecting on her painful ordeal: “The police let me down and that is even more upsetting to me than what that man did.”
Describing her attempt to alert the authorities, she continued: “They contacted me years later to talk to me about what he had done to me – but when I told them at the time, they ignored me.” Helen told how she had tried to warn the police about the possibility of future crimes by the perpetrator. She said: “I tried to tell the police that he would commit crimes again, but they didn’t listen – the rape could have been prevented, but instead they arrested me.”
The traumatic event unfolded for Helen and her daughter, Rheanna Talmage, 23, who were enjoying a luxury stay at the Sunborn Yacht Hotel, Victoria Dock, east London, to celebrate Helen’s birthday. For Helen’s celebration, they had treated themselves to two nights, costing around £500, at the unique ‘yacht hotel’ which had been built from a disused superyacht.
Their night took a horrific turn when they returned to the hotel lobby, where the then manager Fahmy met them and offered to escort them to their room, as they had been drinking. Alone in her room, while her daughter went to get a cigarette, Helen was sexually assaulted by Fahmy.
She recounted the shocking incident: “He let us into our room and I thought it was strange that he was coming in with us.” In her vulnerable state, her fear was only heightened as she said: “I had sat on the bed and taken my socks and shoes off and I thought he was going to leave at that point.
“But he sat at the end of the bed, pulled my foot off the bed and put my big toe in his mouth. I screamed at him to get out of the room and then I went to find my daughter in case he came looking for her. When we tried to get back in, our cards wouldn’t work because he had locked us out. Like a normal person, I called the police to report the incident. I was drunk and swearing when they arrived because I was angry about what he had done to me.”
Helen claims that officers asked Fahmy “what [did he] want to [them] to do with her,” to which he replied, “take her away.” She alleged that instead of giving her statement, she was “grabbed.” She said a physical altercation ensued and she was arrested and taken to the police station.
Helen said her daughter was “dumped at a train station” to go home alone while she spent a night in jail. Helen added: “They didn’t investigate my claim at the time – they weren’t interested in what happened to me.”
She was approached in January this year when Fahmy was due to appear in court for several other sex offences, including raping a woman. The first offence, in 2008, saw him attack a woman living in a flat near a Hilton hotel in Watford where he was a manager, Hendon Magistrates’ Court heard.
He was also convicted of raping one woman and sexually assaulting another woman at the Anchor Guest Hotel in Golders Green, on January 20, 2024. A hotel worker was convicted of sexually assaulting four women, including an incident in which a victim woke up to find him licking her foot.
He was also found guilty of raping another woman while employed at the institution. The offences resulted in a conviction at Hendon Magistrates’ Court on 25 July, with a sentence scheduled for September.
Helen, one of the victims, expressed her shock at the police response. She said: “That night I felt like anyone could do anything to me and that I would be the one in trouble. I reported a crime and was arrested. If you can’t trust the police, who can you trust?”
She went on to criticise police inaction, saying: “His subsequent crimes could have been prevented if the police had listened to me. The police waited for a crime to happen when they could have prevented it.” The Metropolitan Police are currently investigating the conduct of two officers involved in the initial response, while detectives continue to search for possible additional victims and are urging them to come forward.
A Met Police spokesman said: “The investigation into Ahmed Fahmy was led by a team of experienced detectives who specialise in investigating sexual offences and providing victim support.” They added: “As part of their enquiries during a rape investigation, these detectives actively sought to identify previous offences to which Fahmy was linked.”
The statement ended by referring to a specific previous incident. It noted: “One of these was an incident at the Sunborn Yacht Hotel in Western Gateway E16 on 30th March 2022. That night, police were called by a woman who alleged she had been sexually assaulted by a man at the hotel.
“Officers responded and spoke to the woman and man. The woman was arrested on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order offence and assault on an emergency worker. The man was not arrested. The woman was questioned in custody and it was later decided that no further action would be taken against her.
“No further action was taken in relation to the alleged sexual offence after the woman decided she did not wish to proceed with the allegation. When officers investigating the rape allegation contacted the victim of this incident, she agreed to support the police. Her support, along with that of all the other victims, was instrumental in securing Fahmy’s convictions.
“The wider investigation also led to a review of the actions of two of the officers who responded to the incident. Both remain under investigation. Tackling violence against women and girls is a key priority within the Met. We are doing more to support communities and people whose trust has been broken, by focusing on protecting women and girls from violence and tackling the predatory men who commit these crimes. As part of the New Met for London, the Met provides specialist support to victim-survivors and has committed to involving them in decision-making throughout the investigation.”