Man Who Repeatedly Groped Woman On Train Despite Being Confronted Is Spared Jail

By Haider Ali in Crime On 5th January 2023
advertisement

A lady was sexually attacked, a court has heard, but she was unaware of it until the police informed her after she passed out on a train.

On the evening of April 19 of last year, the victim consumed prescription medication that caused her to fall asleep while riding a Metro train from Gateshead to South Shields.

Leon Clarkson, 21, preyed on her while she was traveling and is currently out of jail after telling witnesses he was her boyfriend.

(Picture: North News & Pictures Ltd)
advertisement

They witnessed him repeatedly putting his hand down her leggings as she lay still and unable to sit up.

When a woman from Houghton, Sunderland, observed what Clarkson was doing, she felt uncomfortable and messaged her boyfriend, who then called the police.

When he helped her to her feet and took her off the train at Four Lane Ends, the onlooker texted her boyfriend, who then contacted the police. He claimed that she was only feeling dizzy.

Getty Images
advertisement

When a fellow passenger noticed him carrying the victim and inquired as to what was going on, Clarkson replied that the victim had smoked a joint and her mother would be picking her up.

After taking three diazepam tablets, she was extremely sleepy when the police arrived, so she was brought to the hospital.

The victim told Newcastle Crown Court: ‘I had taken medication before I got on the Metro and I have no recollection of what happened to me.

‘The police investigating the crime told me what happened. This made me feel ill and very anxious.

‘I didn’t know who this man was. I didn’t even know what was happening to me. I was very vulnerable at that point and I think it’s terrible he could do that on a Metro in front of other people.

‘I’m very worried he will do this again to a vulnerable woman or girl. When I see a drunk girl or woman I now always tell them to get home safe and I worry about them.

‘I truly believe if he is capable of doing this in front of witnesses on a busy Metro train he could do something worse to someone else.’

Clarkson admitted to sexual assault after earlier being found guilty of performing a sex act on a bus.

Recorder Tahir Khan KC told him: ‘The complainant was completely at your mercy and you took advantage of her by touching her when she clearly could not be consenting.’

He was put on the sex offenders' register for five years and forced to participate in a program for sexual offenders.

Jamie Adams defended him by saying that he had apologized for what had happened and was a vulnerable man.

He said: ‘The unfortunate complainant didn’t know just how vulnerable this young man is. He has mental health problems and he was taking lots of cannabis at the time.’