{"id":31118,"date":"2026-05-07T21:25:36","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T21:25:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/31118\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T21:25:36","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T21:25:36","slug":"london-train-passenger-who-grabbed-womans-hair-convicted-of-first-charge-of-sex-based-harassment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/31118\/","title":{"rendered":"London train passenger who grabbed woman\u2019s hair convicted of first charge of sex-based harassment"},"content":{"rendered":"

A man who grabbed a young woman\u2019s hair and asked \u201ccan I kiss you\u201d while on a train to London<\/a> has been convicted of sex-based harassment<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It is the first charge of its kind since the law was changed, and was brought by the British Transport Police.<\/p>\n

David Stroud, 44, pleaded guilty at Highbury Corner Magistrates\u2019 Court on Thursday to harassing the woman because of her sex.<\/p>\n

The court heard that he made sexually motivated comments<\/a> to her on board a train to London on 3 April, two days after the law, banning harassment<\/a> motivated by a person\u2019s sex, came into force.<\/p>\n

Prosecutor Paul Okebu told the court that Stroud sat next to the woman, who was on the phone to her boyfriend at the time, on a train which left Hastings<\/a> around 8.50pm.<\/p>\n

Stroud tried to make conversation with the young woman, who tried to ignore him.<\/p>\n

The court heard that Stroud, of Dartford, Kent, was \u201cconstantly leaning on to the woman\u201d and got closer, telling her \u201cyou\u2019re magical\u201d and grabbing her hair, which the victim \u201cperceived to be sexual\u201d.<\/p>\n

The woman said that she could smell alcohol on the defendant\u2019s breath.<\/p>\n

\"Stroud<\/p>\n

Stroud was arrested at London Bridge station (file photo) (Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Mr Okebu said the woman said the incident \u201cmade her feel very uncomfortable\u201d, she felt \u201ccornered\u201d, and told Stroud to get off her hair and not to touch her.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe continued to try to make conversation and then asked \u2018can I kiss you?\u2019,\u201d Mr Okebu said, to which the woman replied \u201cabsolutely not\u201d.<\/p>\n

Stroud, a father-of-two, told the woman \u201cyou\u2019re never going to find someone who loves your hair as much as I do\u201d, and she replied \u201cI already have someone\u201d.<\/p>\n

The woman\u2019s boyfriend heard the comments over the phone and called BTP, who arrested Stroud at London Bridge station.<\/p>\n

While under caution Stroud said: \u201cIt\u2019s just banter, we had banter together, do you know what I mean,\u201d the court heard.<\/p>\n

He also said: \u201cI\u2019ve done nothing wrong to her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alex Chowdhury, defending, told the court Stroud, a technician at a water company, had \u201creflected\u201d on his offending.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a result of reading through the (court) papers he has realised it\u2019s a lot more than that (banter),\u201d Mr Chowdhury said.<\/p>\n

\"Safeguarding<\/p>\n

Safeguarding minister Jess Phillips says harassing someone in public because of their sex \u2018will not be tolerated\u2019 (POOL\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Mr Okebu told the bench of magistrates: \u201cYour worships, this is a matter which on another day in different circumstances may have amounted to a sexual assault.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a serious offence, targeting of a lone woman on public transport late in the evening.\u201d<\/p>\n

The magistrates ordered a pre-sentence report. Stroud will be sentenced at the same court on 9 June.<\/p>\n

The new offence, under Section 4B of the Public Order Act 1986, covers intentional harassment directed at someone because of their sex, including where perpetrators target women and girls in public places, including streets, parks and public transport, the Home Office previously said.<\/p>\n

BTP previously said the new section \u201cstrengthens existing public order powers by criminalising behaviour which causes intentional harassment, alarm or distress because of a person\u2019s sex or presumed sex\u201d.<\/p>\n

When the change in the law was announced, safeguarding minister Jess Phillips<\/a> said: \u201cIf you harass someone in public because of their sex, it will not be tolerated and you can face a criminal record and up to two years behind bars.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nathan Miebai, deputy chief Crown prosecutor for the West Midlands Crown Prosecution Service, said: \u201cIt is vital that women and girls feel safe in public spaces and able to live their lives without fear of harassment because of their sex.<\/p>\n

\u201cDavid Stroud made that impossible for one woman who was simply travelling home on the train and today he has faced the consequences of his actions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis first-of-its-kind conviction proves that through close collaboration across the criminal justice system, we can deliver outcomes like these for more victims and build a safer environment for everyone to be a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A man who grabbed a young woman\u2019s hair and asked \u201ccan I kiss you\u201d while on a train…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31119,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[598,13481,6956,27,13482,13483],"class_list":{"0":"post-31118","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-british-transport-police","9":"tag-david-stroud","10":"tag-harassment","11":"tag-london","12":"tag-london-bridge-station","13":"tag-paul-okebu"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116535408935621895","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}