Romford commuter ‘molested by Olympic site worker’

Tony Uwaifo, 40, rubbed his crotch against City workers as they travelled on the Central Line between Stratford and Liverpool Street, jurors heard.

Four women in their early 30s came forward to describe almost identical attacks spanning two years during the morning rush hour, Blackfriars Crown Court heard.

Francis Lloyd, prosecuting, said two victims ended up with his body fluids on their clothing.

“These women, perfectly innocently going about their business, found him rubbing himself against them in a deliberate sexual manner,” said Mr Lloyd.

“We say the evidence is very strong in this case and having heard the evidence you will be sure of the defendant’s guilt.’

Mr Lloyd said Uwaifo targeted his first known victim on her way from Stratford to Chancery Lane at around 8.20am on September 17, 2008.

“The assaults all happened around that time,” the barrister told jurors.

“She was aware of a black man rubbing himself up against her.

“She was obviously upset by this.

“Eventually he left. She looked down and realised to her horror that he had actually ejaculated on her rucksack.’

The woman took the bag to police who held the DNA profile on file with no match at that time.

A year later on September 15, 2009, another victim travelling between Leyton and Mile End was molested by a man matching Uwaifo’s description.

Mr Lloyd said: “She felt the unwelcome presence of a black male and she too felt him rubbing himself against her with an erection.

“She called out for help.

“Sadly, perhaps in some ways explicably, no one did help and he was able to leave without being stopped by anyone.”

He left no DNA behind and the victim was unable to pick him out in an ID parade.

But her description matched the profiles the other women gave to police of a medium height black man wearing a cap and faded baggy jeans.

A CCTV still of him at Leyton Tube wearing the same red baseball cap was also seized.

The following day he cornered his third victim, jurors heard.

The woman, who was living in Romford, at the time and commuting to Leicester Square, told the jury she had just got on a packed Tube at Stratford when she was attacked.

She said: “I got on the train, it was really crammed.

“There was no room for me to sit.

“I felt somebody behind me pushing into my bottom.

“At first I thought it was because the train was really busy.

“I started leaning forward but the person sort of followed me and pushed even

closer into me.

“This went on for a couple of minutes.

“We got to the next stop Mile End.

“Quite a few people got off and because I was scared I tried to move to a different position.

“I moved slightly and had my back to the glass partition.

“The person followed and stood in front of me.

“More people got on.

“He started to lean in towards me.

“His penis was in my left side near my groin area.

“At first it was direct contact then I could feel a grinding movement.

“I was scared and didn’t know whether to say anything to him in case he did anything.

“I was just looking around to see if I could get somebody’s eye contact.

“He got off at Liverpool Street.”

The woman said she saw Uwaifo again around five times and on one occasion he tried to follow her onto a carriage at Stratford but was thwarted, she claimed.

She said: “I quickly got on the train thinking he might see me.

“He turned round and sort of caught my eye and tried to get onto the train but it was too full and the doors shut.

“Another time I saw him on the platform at Holborn.

“There were lots of trains going past and he was not getting on, just looking through the windows.”

Uwaifo assaulted his fourth alleged victim on January 14 this year after she got on at Bethnal Green bound for Liverpool Street, the court heard.

He left bodily fluids on her stockings during the attack, it was said.

The prosecutor said: “She went straight to Boots to buy a new pair of tights and handed the stained pair in to police.

“DNA testing proves conclusively it is Mr Uwaifo.”

The barrister said a woman police constable who knew nothing of the case was on pickpocket patrol at Piccadilly Circus Underground Station on the same day when she spotted the pest.

“She saw the defendant behaving in what she thought was a strange way, paying very close attention to female passengers and rubbing himself against them,” added the lawyer.

The officer took his name and did not arrest him, but when she probed further she was shown a photo of the suspect and confirmed it was the same man she accosted.

Uwaifo was arrested and was “equivocal” about whether it was him in the picture, said the prosecutor.

When presented with the DNA results he said it might be him but claimed to have a medical condition causing “intemperate ejaculation”, added Mr Lloyd.

He admitted working at the Stratford Olympic site and always having a break between around 7.40am and 8.40am, the jury heard.

The barrister said: “We say there is a typical pattern.

“He has a break in the morning, gets on the Tube, molests a lady, and goes back to work again.”

Uwaifo, of Capworth Street, Leyton, east London, denies four counts of sexual assault.

The trial continues.