Man who raped and killed NHS worker is jailed

A man who was caught on CCTV raping and killing an NHS worker on a park bench in west London has been jailed for life.

Mohamed Iidow attacked mother-of-three Natalie Shotter, 37, while she lay unconscious in Southall Park after a night out.

Jurors had heard how the former child stage star had died from a heart attack caused by the assault.

Iidow, 35, was previously found guilty of her rape and manslaughter after a trial at the Old Bailey.
At the same court, Judge Richard Marks KC sentenced Iidow to life with a minimum term of 10 years and eight months.

He told Iidow that taking advantage of Ms Shotter when she was vulnerable and unconscious was “wicked and utterly reckless”.

Following his arrest, the defendant told police the sex was “consensual” which was “completely untrue”, the judge added.

He said Iidow was a “dangerous offender” and, in 2022, had engaged in “explicit” sexual chat online with a girl he thought was aged 13 while he was under investigation for rape.
‘Desperately sad’

Ms Shotter’s mother, Dr Cas Shotter Weetman, an NHS cardiology practitioner, described her daughter as a “bundle of joy” who at the age of 12 had starred in a theatre production of Les Miserables.

As an adult, she had children and worked in clinical administration at her local NHS hospital, Dr Shotter said.

“The day I found out about Nat, I felt absolutely sick and I felt a terrible feeling of doom. I was in absolute shock.

“I then had to later learn from the police that my daughter had died in these horrific circumstances.”

She told Iidow he had “destroyed” her family.

“No woman should have to fear going to a park and sitting on a bench. It’s disgusting.”

Ms Shotter’s partner, Anthony Wilson, said in his statement that the thought of her killer made him “angry” and that his new role of single father made him feel “stretched in every aspect”.

During the trial, the court had heard how Ms Shotter had been seen happily dancing in the street before going into the park after a night out.

Jurors had viewed CCTV of Iidow walking past the victim three times in a “predatory” way as she sat on the bench.

Half an hour later, she was lying down, showing “no clear movement” when the defendant approached her “nonchalantly”, prosecutor Alison Morgan KC said.

She was “deeply unconscious” when Iidow repeatedly raped her, even moving Ms Shotter’s body around in different positions, the court was told.

Afterwards, the defendant drove back to his home in Hounslow, west London, via a Shell garage where he stopped to buy cat food and mouthwash.

Ms Shotter, whose three children are aged between five and 19, was found dead by a passer-by in the park in the early morning of 17 July 2021.