June 2015

Man jailed for making girl, 15, commit sex acts on board bus

singh

A Southall man has been jailed after making a schoolgirl perform sex acts as he sat next to her on the bus on her way to school.

Harvinder Singh carried out his ’appalling’ crimes on the route 120 between Hounslow and Southall in February. He sat next to the schoolgirl at 7am and began to touch her.

He then forcibly made her “commit acts of a sexual nature,” a police statement said. His victim managed to press the ‘stop’ button and get off the bus away from Singh – but the predator followed the girl as far as her school, where she was able to report what happened.

The 24-year-old pervert was arrested the very next day. February 12, thanks to a combination of vital DNA evidence and on-bus CCTV.

He responded ‘no comment’ at interviews and remained in custody until his sexual assault trial this month.

Singh, of Minterne Avenue, pleaded guilty to sexual assault and causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent. On Friday June 5, he was sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment for sexual assault and 15 months’ imprisonment for causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent, to run concurrently, at Isleworth Crown Court.

He has been placed on the Sexual Offenders register for 10 years, and after he has served his 15-month jail term, he will be deported back to India

Detective Superintendent Adnan Qureshi, of MPS Roads and Transport Policing Command, said: “This was an excellent result, which has seen the perpetrator of an appalling crime receive a lengthy time in jail and deportation on release.

“If you commit an offence on the transport network, we will pursue and arrest you.” The investigation was part-funded by TfL, whose director of enforcement and on-street operations, Steve Burton, said: “We take crimes of this nature incredibly seriously. Thanks to the bravery of this victim in reporting this terrible offence the MPS were able to track down and subsequently help convict this predatory criminal. We will continue to work closely with our policing partners to rid our transport network of this kind of behaviour.

“If anyone experiences any unwanted sexual behaviour on our transport network, I would urge them to report it to the police by texting 61016 or calling 101.

As this case shows we are successfully prosecuting offenders on the network and all reports will be thoroughly investigated.”