County Durham businessman jailed as part of Operation Sanctuary

A businessman from Chester-le-Street has become the first to be sent to prison as a result of Operation Sanctuary, a major Northumbria Police investigation into allegations of a series of sexual offences.

Gurhan Sayan targeted his victim in Newcastle city centre when she stumbled and lost her shoe. The 28-year-old woman, who had been drinking, could not remember how she got into his car, but woke to find she had been driven some distance from the city centre.

She was then attacked inside the vehicle. At Newcastle Crown Court today Guhan Sayan was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison. He was also given a 10-year Prohibition Order, banning him from transporting females he does not know in his car. He'd pleaded guilty to an sex assault charge at at earlier hearing.