Mum-of-three ‘killed while being orally raped on park bench’

An NHS worker died after she was orally raped ‘again and again’ by a stranger on a park bench, a court heard.

Mother-of-three Natalie Shotter, 37, had been dead for hours before she was found by a passer-by in Southall Park, west London, on July 17, 2021.

The Old Bailey heard that Ms Shotter was only 5 feet tall at the time of her death.

The accused, Mohamed Iidow, 35, denies manslaughter and rape.

Prosecutor Alison Morgan told jurors Natalie was found by a passerby on a bench in Southall park early in the morning of July 17, 2021.

She added: ‘Very sadly, by the time she was found, she had died and it was obvious that she had been dead for a number of hours. The passerby who had found Natalie did not know her and he called the emergency services.’

Her cause of death was not clear at the time, KC Morgan said.

‘It has taken time to understand what must have happened to Natalie that night to understand what it was that must have caused her death. Crucially a CCTV camera at some distance away from the bench on which she was found would reveal what had happened to her that night,’ she said.

The prosecution said Natalie was a ‘vulnerable’ woman enjoying herself when she was ‘taken advantage of’ and repeatedly orally raped by the defendant.

They added: ‘It was the process of orally raping her again and again that caused her death. It is alleged that the defendant raped Natalie Shotter, by repeatedly penetrating her mouth with his penis. Although it is grainy and at a distance, the prosecution alleges that the CCTV footage shows the defendant engaging in acts of oral penetration.’

CCTV allegedly showed Iidow ‘positioning’ himself and Natalie in ways to ‘insert his penis into her mouth’, they said.

Natalie did not ‘appear to be conscious’ at the time.

KC Morgan explained: ‘He could never have believed that she was consenting. The prosecution also alleges manslaughter. The prosecution’s case is that it was the process of raping Natalie repeatedly, which was obviously an unlawful thing to do, that caused her death.’

Iidow, of St Paul’s Close, Hounslow, was first arrested on August 4, 2021 and charged on December 21, 2023.

He denies rape and manslaughter.

The trial continues and is set to last two to three weeks.

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