A mother has revealed how she was arrested after reporting a toe-sucking sex attacker to police – while the twisted predator prowled the streets for nearly two years without being caught.
Helen Ingham, 48, called police to report she had been a victim of the reign of terror carried out by hotel manager Ahmed Fahmy, 45, against women that spanned more than 15 years.
But detectives missed the chance to arrest him and handcuffed Ms Ingham instead – locking her in a cell overnight when she became angry her accusations were not taken seriously.
Perverted Fahmy was allowed to walk free and was only brought to justice nearly two years later, when two more women reported he raped or sexually assaulted them at another hotel.
Police then contacted Ms Ingham for a statement and a two week trial heard he raped a woman and sexually assaulted another in January 2024 at a hotel – 22 months after attacking Ms Ingham.
He was found guilty of sexually assaulting Ms Ingham – and another woman years earlier in 2008.
Ms Ingham, from Warrington, Cheshire, said: ‘The police failed me, and that’s more upsetting to me than what that man did.
‘They got in touch years later to talk to me about what he did to me – but when I told them at the time they ignored me.
‘I tried to tell the police that he would offend again but they didn’t listen – the rape could have been avoided but instead they arrested me.’
Ms Ingham, who has waived her right to anonymity, said she had been staying at an upmarket ‘yacht hotel’ after a Stormzy concert when she was attacked.
The waitress called police immediately but claims they didn’t take her seriously, or take a statement or arrest Fahmy for the March 2022 attack.
Instead, she was arrested after becoming upset and abusive because the officers seemed disinterested in her assault claims, and was put in a cell for the night.
After the incident Ms Ingham initially opted not to proceed with the allegation because of how she had been treated, and no further action was taken.
Metropolitan Police confirmed the wider investigation has prompted a review into the actions of two of the officers who responded to the incident and both remain under investigation.
Ms Ingham and her daughter, Rheanna Talmage, 23, arrived back to Sunborn Yacht Hotel, at Victoria Dock, east London, in the early hours of March 30, 2022.
The pair had splashed around £500 for two nights in the ‘yacht hotel’ built into a decommissioned superyacht, for Ms Ingham’s birthday.
They entered the foyer of the hotel and then-manager Fahmy approached them and escorted them back to their room because they had been drinking.
When her daughter went downstairs to smoke a cigarette, twisted Fahmy sexually assaulted Ms Ingham after she sat down on her bed.
She said: ‘He let us into our room and I thought it was strange when he came in with us.
‘I had sat on the bed and taken off my socks and shoes, and I thought he would leave at that point.
‘But he sat down at the end of the bed, pulled my foot off the bed, and put my big toe in his mouth.
‘I shouted at him to get out of the room, then I went to go and find my daughter in case he went to find her.
‘When we tried to get back inside, 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 did to me.’
Ms Ingham claims officers asked Fahmy ‘what do you want us to do with her?’ to which he responded ‘take her away’.
She said instead of taking her statement, she was ‘grabbed’.
She said a physical conflict ensued, she was arrested and taken to the police station.
Ms Ingham said her daughter was ‘dumped at a train station’ to make her way home alone, and she spent a night in the cells.
She said: ‘They didn’t investigate my claim at the time – they weren’t bothered about what happened to me.’
She was contacted in January this year – when Fahmy was due to appear in court for several other sexual offences including raping a woman.
The earliest offence, in 2008, saw him attack a woman who was 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 a woman and sexually assaulting another at Anchor Guest Hotel, in Golders Green, on January 20, 2024.
A group of four women were staying in the hotel where he worked, and one of them woke up to him in her bedroom, licking her foot.
The following morning, he came across another of the women in the hotel and manoeuvred her into his bedroom where he raped her.
He was found guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault at Hendon Magistrates Court on July 25 and will be sentenced in September.
Ms Ingham lodged a complaint with the Metropolitan Police against the two officers who attended, and the force says both remain under investigation.
Detectives believe there may be more victims who have yet to come forward and are urging them to do so immediately.
Ms Ingham said: ‘That night, I felt like anyone could do anything to me and I would have been the one who got in trouble.
‘I reported a crime and then I got arrested – if you can’t trust the police, who can you trust?
‘His later crimes could have been avoided if the police had listened to me.
‘The police waited for a crime to happen when they could have prevented one..’
A spokesman for the Met Police said: ‘The investigation into Ahmed Fahmy was led by a team of experienced detectives specialising in investigating sexual offences and providing victim support.
‘As part of their enquiries during a rape investigation, these detectives actively sought to identify any previous offences Fahmy was linked to.
‘One of those was an incident at the Sunborn Yacht Hotel in Western Gateway E16 on 30 March 2022.
‘On that night police were called by a woman alleging that 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 interviewed in custody and it was later decided no further action would be taken against her.
‘No further action was taking regarding the alleged sexual offence after the woman decided she did not want to wish to proceed with the allegation.
‘When officers investigating the rape allegation contacted the victim from this incident, she agreed to support police. Her support, along with all the other victims, was instrumental in securing Fahmy’s convictions.
‘The wider investigation also prompted a review into 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 across the Met.. We are doing more to support communities and people who’ve had their trust damaged, focusing on protecting women and girls from violence and targeting predatory men who commit those crimes.
‘As part of the New Met for London, the Met offers victim-survivors specialist support and have committed to involving them in the decision-making process throughout the investigation.’