Mum-of-three ‘raped repeatedly until she died while unconscious on park bench’

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

Natalie Shotter, 37, was on a night out before she was allegedly attacked by Mohamed Iidow, 35, who is on trial for rape and manslaguther at the Old Bailey.

The mum-of-three was found dead by a passer-by hours later in Southall Park, west London, on July 17, 2021.

Prosecutor Alison Morgan KC said Natalie was a ‘a vulnerable woman out enjoying herself who was then taken advantage of by this defendant’.

‘Natalie Shotter does not appear to have been conscious at the time that she was raped, let alone consenting to the defendant. He could never have believed that she was consenting.

‘It was the process of raping Natalie repeatedly that caused her death.’

Ms Morgan told jurors that it had taken time to understand what happened to Ms Shotter that night and how she died.

‘She had not been stabbed or beaten to death, there were no obvious signs of significant injury to her body and there was nobody else with her,’ the prosecutor continued.

‘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.

‘Although it is grainy and at a distance, the prosecution alleges that the CCTV footage shows the defendant engaging in acts of oral penetration.’

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

Earlier that night, Ms Shotter – mum to a primary school-aged child and two teenagers – was recorded dancing outside a shop with other people.

Jurors were told the victim was little more than 5ft tall and weighed just 43kg (6st 11lb).

Speaking after her death, Ms Shotter’s mum Dr Cas Shotter Weetman described her as a ‘wonderful woman with a heart as big as a lion’, saying she was ‘loved by all that knew her’.

She added: ‘We no longer have the person we treasured. The emotions around that are total and devastating grief.

‘I think about Natalie continuously through the day. And for her kids, the loss of a mother is indescribable and is forever.’

Her son and Natalie’s brother Harry said she ‘was just a really lovely person’, adding: ‘Her kids adored her, which is why it’s going to be so difficult.

‘It was a very close family unit at home and they always looked after each other at home. It’s absolutely tragic, for all of us.’ 

Iidow denies the charges against him and the trial continues tomorrow.

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