Prowling Stranger Kidnapped, Raped Woman At Knifepoint, Jailed Over 20 Years

By Grâçia Ada Obi

A woman feared for her life when she was kidnapped and raped at knifepoint by a stranger who jumped into her car after she left work.

Neil Reid, 43, was seen ‘prowling’ around the area close to his home in Towngate, Leyland, United Kingdom (UK) at around 11pm on April 16, looking for someone to attack.

At around 11.30pm the lone woman finished her shift and returned to her car but as she called her friend from the driver’s seat, Reid jumped in the passenger side and pointed a knife at her, saying: “F***ing drive…”

The woman said he could take the car, but Reid ordered her to ‘just f***ing drive’ to Bamber Bridge. Terrified, she said the police would notice if she drove without lights or her seatbelt, so he allowed her to put them on.

When they reached a set of traffic lights, Reid asked the woman for a kiss which she refused. He directed her to a secluded area where he began to remove his trousers.

The woman escaped from the car and screamed but Reid chased her and grabbed her hoodie, saying, ‘I can’t believe you’ve done that. I’ll kill you. Do you want to die?’

He dragged her back into the passenger seat and drove the car to Sephton Street, Lostock Hall, where he raped her on the car and on a grass area.

“She was, throughout, in fear for her life”, Judge Robert Altham, sentencing, said. “She feared, reasonably in the circumstances, that you were going to kill her.”

Throughout the ordeal, Reid made degrading comments to his victim, insisting she was enjoying the sickening attack. She managed to flee to safety at a nearby pub when Reid realised he could not find the car keys and used his mobile phone as a torch.

Following the attack, Reid drove the woman’s car to Preston and broke into the flat of his ex-partner’s dad. The man and his partner woke to find Reid at the bottom of the bed demanding his car keys. When they mentioned calling the police, he fled and returned to Leyland by taxi.

He was found slumped near a wall by his house at 3am and arrested. All three of his victims said he seemed under the influence of drugs during their ordeals.

In a victim statement, the woman said she no longer feels safe after the ordeal.

“What happened to me that night has affected my life in so many ways,” she said.

She described taking medication daily to cope with the anxiety and has had leave her job because of the ordeal.

Her car was held by the police and she had to replace it but was unable to afford the insurance due to the claim she had made against her old vehicle.

“I have no social life as I’m constantly worried about something happening,” she added. “I feel like I am going to die every time I leave the house. I don’t trust anyone anymore. I don’t feel safe. I feel I have no free time anymore.”

The victims of the break in at their flat in Preston also said they suffered sleepless nights and anxiety after the violation to their home.

Preston Crown Court heard Reid was heavily using crack cocaine and his ex-partner had told him to take his medication as she suspected he was experiencing a psychotic episode.

Reid pleaded guilty to two counts of rape, two counts of attempted robbery, one of kidnap, one of committing an offence with intent to commit a sexual offence, and one of threatening another with an article with a blade or point.

The Honorary Recorder of Preston, Judge Altham, said: “I have read your pre-sentence report. You seek to blame cocaine use and to use that as an excuse to reduce your blame.

“You describe what you did as ‘something stupid when intoxicated’. You clearly don’t understand what you have done. Before you can ever come to terms with what you have done you need to understand that you did this, not cocaine.

“I have come to the conclusion you are a dangerous offender. The harm you caused that night was extreme. There is no obvious reason for it apart from you being intoxicated.

“You have a long standing cocaine habit and your refusal to take responsibility for your actions makes you more dangerous.”

On September 24, 2025, the judge sentenced Reid to 20 years and six months custody with an eight year extended licence period – the maximum supervision he could impose. Reid will be assessed by the Parole Board before his release.

The judge also made indefinite restraining orders for each of the three victims and placed him on the sex offenders register for life.