An unlicensed mini-cab driver who sexually assaulted two vulnerable women and stole their money faces four years in jail.

Amir Bhatti, 33, used his job to sexually assault the female passengers in Kingston and Chelsea in November 2010.

One 18-year-old victim, who was separated from friends after a night out in Kingston, fled from Bhatti after he drove in the wrong direction and touched her leg when the car stopped at traffic lights.

Three days later a second woman was assaulted by Bhatti in the back of a car. The 31-year-old, who had left the Chelsea nightclub she had been partying at after becoming ill, managed to flee from Bhatti after claiming she needed to be sick.

Both women also had money stolen from their accounts via a cash machine when they were assaulted.

CCTV footage showed Bhatti standing with the women when they made withdrawals and a record of him storing one of the victim’s Pin numbers in his mobile phone was retrieved.

Phone records were also able to pinpoint Bhatti as being at the locations relevant to the assaults at the time they happened.

Detective Constable Serena D’Adamo, from the Met’s Sapphire unit, said: “Bhatti used his job as an unlicensed cab driver to target vulnerable woman and get them into his car so he could carry out the assaults.

“This case should serve as a reminder to women to take sensible precautions when planning a night out and ensure they have a safe way of getting home.”

Police urged anyone who thought they had been a victim of sexual assault to report it.

Bhatti, from Hounslow, was arrested on November 29, 2010, and pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault and one count of theft in October 2011.

He was sentenced to four years imprisonment at Isleworth Crown Court on Friday, February 24.