A financial adviser told an Old Bailey jury how sh

A financial adviser told an Old Bailey jury how she was kept prisoner in a house by a wealthy client after she turned down his lustful advances.

The 32-year-old building society employee said Minhajuddin Syed, 61, drove her to a house, locked her in and tried to kiss her after a series of meetings last year.

The pretty brunette quietly told the court how she screamed at Syed to leave her alone but she found herself locked in when she got to the front door.

At an earlier meeting the woman had found Syed playing footsy with her under the table after he asked her to help him invest pnds stlg 450,000.

Syed, of Hayworth Close, Pinner, Middsx, denies two charges of indecent assault and one of false imprisonment.

Giving evidence Miss X, who was based from an office in the Enfield area, explained how she offers expert advice to clients on their finances.

She told how she met up with Syed last November as he looked for options on how to invest pnds stlg 450,000 following the sale of a property.

Miss X said when she first turned up at his home the devout muslim made her take off her shoes.

‘We sat at a table because I had a lot of paperwork.

I basically went through all the recommendations I made.

I felt very uncomfortable because he started touching my feet under the table.

‘I moved my feet immediately.

I though maybe it was a mistake at the time.

As I moved away he would then move closer.

‘I felt very uncomfortable.

My feet were right under my chair.

‘

She said the feet touching took place through much of the meeting which lasted three quarters of an hour.

Miss X said she later informed her manager and her husband about the incident.

But she said Syed kept in contact with her and persuaded her to meet up with him again.

This time he suggested going for a drink, on December 7 last year.

‘He arranged to pick me up at my office.

I was very uncomfortable about this arrangement.

‘

She said before Syed arrived he had asked her to park her car ‘somewhere quiet’ away from the office.

But Miss X agreed to get into Syed’s car after telephoning her superiors and telling them about the arrangement.

‘He said, raising his voice: ‘Why are you telling people where you are going.

You should not have told anyone.

‘

She asked Syed where he was going but he was ‘evasive,’ the jury heard.

‘I was getting increasingly agitated,’ she said.

Miss X said eventually they ended up in a modern housing estate in Colindale.

‘I didn’t know where I was,’ she added.

‘I wasn’t particularly happy but it was my job to be there,’ she continued.

‘We sat at a table and I set out all my papers.

He sat next to me initially.

I became increasingly agitated once I realised we were alone in the house.

I became very nervous and uptight.

It would have been evident that I was not comfortable with the situation.

‘I was probably shaking a bit.

‘

She told the jury Syed then went and sat on a sofa, before asking her to join him and chat about herself.

Miss X refused but Syed took her by the wrist, made ‘small talk,’ and sat her down next to him.

She continued: ‘He then asked for my left hand and said: ‘I will tell you your future.

‘

‘He started talking about the long lines.

He moved himself closer and put his right hand behind my back to pull me towards him.

He started kissing my hand.

‘He came towards me.

He pursed his lips and moved them towards my face.

I moved very quickly.

I jumped up.

I started shouting.

I was very agitated.

I was shouting: ‘Just get off me, just get off me.

That’s it, I’m leaving.

”

Miss X said she pleaded with Syed to let her out of the house as he began apologising profusely.

‘He wouldn’t let me out.

I was fiddling with the door and I thought maybe it was on a catch.

After a while it became clear he wasn’t going to let me out.

I was just asking to be let out.

‘

She said she was able to call her boss on her mobile phone while Syed continued his apologies.

But Miss X said when Syed finally let her out into the street she simply did not know where she was so she accepted a lift back in his car.

During the journey she said the defendant repeatedly asked her not to tell anyone about the incident in the house.

But later she told her superiors and her husband about the alleged assault in which Syed ‘slobbered’ on her hand and locked her in a house.

Her husband, a member of the Federation Against Copywrite Theft (FACT), put her in touch with police officers and Syed was arrested.

But in interview Syed denied assaulting the woman in any way.

He also denied locking her in the house – which turned out to be at Beaumont Court on the Grahame Park Estate in Colindale.

The trial continues.

ends