A rapist who lured a girl into a train toilet after messaging her on Snapchat has been given five years in prison.
Tommi Harwood has been labelled a ‘danger’ to women and girls after being found guilty of raping a 16-year-old girl.
The 18-year-old lured his victim to a busy train station before assaulting her inside the women’s toilets.
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On 9 Oct, he was handed a five-year prison sentence, an indefinite restraining order and an eight-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order, as reported by Need To Know.
Harwood was sentenced at Snaresbrook Crown Court after a five-day-long trial following an investigation by British Transport Police detectives from its Major, Serious and Organised Crime team.
The assault took place on 5 Sep 2024 at Romford station – where CCTV footage caught him smirking on the day of the horrific attack.
The teen from Andersons, Stanford-le-Hope, had been messaging his victim on Snapchat, where he lied about his name.
During the conversation Harwood told the 16-year-old that his name was ‘Bobby’.
He convinced her to meet him at Romford Station after realising she was on the train.
Around 8pm when the train pulled in, Harwood met her on the platform before leading her to a waiting room.
The police report states that he repeatedly asked her to check if anyone was in the women’s toilet.
After a short while the victim went to use the toilet, where she was followed and raped by Harwood.
After returning to the platform he told the victim, ‘if we see police run across the tracks’.
The brave victim made a report to the police which sparked an investigation from BTP.
A manhunt was launched and Harwood was discovered on 25 Oct last year at Basildon station travelling without a ticket.
He was arrested and taken into custody to be questioned.
The detailed account from the victim, twinned with forensic and CCTV evidence led the Crown Prosecution Service to authorise the rape charge.
Ross McAlpine, BTP Detective Constable, said: “The young victim has shown tremendous courage, not only by speaking up and reporting what happened to her, but by supporting our enquiries and the court proceedings that followed.
“She has been supported throughout our investigation by specialist officers, and I hope the fact her attacker is now behind bars brings her some sense of justice.
“Harwood’s attack was premeditated and frankly abhorrent. Through his actions, he has shown that he poses a very real threat to women and girls.
“Tackling sexual offending is a top priority for us at BTP. I would urge anyone who experiences or witnesses this offending to report it to us by texting 61016 or dialling 999 in an emergency.
“Just as we have in this case, we’ll stop at nothing to put dangerous sex offenders before the courts.”
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