A father-of-two who cornered a young woman on a train, grabbed her hair and asked 'can I kiss you?' has become the first person convicted under Britain's new sex-based harassment laws.
The Incident
David Stroud, 44, subjected the lone female passenger to what prosecutors described as 'sexually motivated' behaviour during a late-night train journey to London just days after the legislation came into force. Stroud, from Dartford, Kent, pleaded guilty at Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court on Thursday to harassing the woman because of her sex following the disturbing encounter on April 3.
The court heard the woman had been travelling alone on a train from Hastings at around 8.50pm while speaking to her boyfriend on the phone when Stroud sat beside her and began trying to start a conversation. Prosecutor Paul Okebu said the victim attempted to ignore him because she was a lone woman travelling at night, but Stroud became increasingly intrusive.
Escalating Behaviour
He told the court Stroud was 'constantly leaning on to the woman' before moving closer, telling her 'you're magical' and grabbing her hair, which the victim 'perceived to be sexual'. The woman later said she could smell alcohol on his breath and felt deeply uncomfortable by his behaviour. Mr Okebu said the incident 'made her feel very uncomfortable', adding that she felt 'cornered' and repeatedly told Stroud to stop touching her hair.
'He continued to try to make conversation and then asked 'can I kiss you?',' Mr Okebu said, to which the woman replied 'absolutely not'. Stroud then told the victim: 'you're never going to find someone who loves your hair as much as I do', prompting her to reply: 'I already have someone'.
Arrest and Court Proceedings
The woman's boyfriend overheard the exchange over the phone and alerted British Transport Police, who arrested Stroud when the train arrived at London Bridge station. While under caution, Stroud insisted: 'It's just banter, we had banter together, do you know what I mean.' He also said: 'I've done nothing wrong to her.'
Alex Chowdhury, defending, told the court Stroud, a technician at a water company, had 'reflected' on his offending. 'As a result of reading through the (court) papers he has realised it's a lot more than that (banter),' Mr Chowdhury said.
Mr Okebu told the bench of magistrates: 'Your worships, this is a matter which on another day in different circumstances may have amounted to a sexual assault. It is a serious offence, targeting of a lone woman on public transport late in the evening.'
Sentencing and Legal Context
The magistrates ordered a pre-sentence report and Stroud will be sentenced at the same court on June 9. 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.
BTP previously said the new section 'strengthens existing public order powers by criminalising behaviour which causes intentional harassment, alarm or distress because of a person's sex or presumed sex'. When the change in the law was announced, safeguarding minister Jess Phillips said: 'If 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.'
