SINISTER CCTV footage shows the moment a sexual predator carried a woman before raping her.

West Yorkshire Police released the video six years ago as part of an appeal to the public for information about a sexual assault near Mark Lane, next to the St John’s shopping centre in Leeds, on Friday, August 15 in 2015.

The footage shows a man walking up a street with a woman in his arms.

He then turns left down another road, where he moves out of shot.

Two other clips included in the appeal show the man casually wandering round Leeds.

The footage was sent out to the public - despite its harrowing nature - in an attempt to find the man in the clips.

Detective Superintendent Pat Twiggs, Head of Crime for Leeds District, said in 2015: “The footage of the victim being carried off by this man clearly makes for disturbing viewing.

"We gave very careful consideration to releasing it and secured the consent of the victim who has been left understandably traumatised by what this man did to her.

“I think the CCTV gives a really stark illustration of the very serious nature of this offence and we hope it will focus the public’s minds on helping us to identify and trace the man responsible.”

But Austin Osayande was only identified after another woman reported a sexual assault at the end of last year, despite detectives trawling through CCTV and conducting a large-scale investigation, including DNA-based work.

Osayande's DNA sample from 2015 did not match anyone recorded on the police database and longer-term work by the investigation team, including looking at familial DNA in an effort to identify males who were on the database who could be relatives of the suspect, did not result in him being identified.

A sample taken from Osayande when he was in custody on suspicion of sexual assault last September ended up being a match to the 2015 offence.

It came about after a woman reported that she had been sexually assaulted in her home in Leeds by a delivery driver on September 10, 2021.

Osayande was identified as the suspect and arrested the same day.

He denied the offence and was released on bail with conditions while enquiries continued.

But the DNA sample match allowed police to arrest him for the 2015 attack.

He was subsequently charged with rape for that and assault by penetration for the 2021 offence.

Osayande, 40, of Sissons Road, in the Middleton area of Leeds was sentenced to 16 years in prison at Leeds Crown Court today for those offences.

He initially pleaded not guilty when he appeared at the same court via videolink in October last year.

But he admitted both offences at a hearing at Leeds Crown Court on January 27.