Police appealing for help following unusual incident in February

Police are appealing to the public for help in identifying a man who carried out an unusual sexual assault and theft on a 12-year-old girl in Ealing.

The school girl was walking in Creighton Road on the afternoon of Thursday, 10 February when a man approached and spoke to her.

She walked away from the suspect, but he followed and put his arm around her before steering her into a small alleyway, where he threatened to stab her.

The suspect told her to remove her tights and when she protested he began to remove them himself. The victim then took the tights off to prevent him touching her further and handed them to him. The suspect
took the flesh-coloured tights and walked away towards South Ealing Road.

Despite ongoing enquiries being carried out by detectives from Sapphire, a motive has not been established for this assault.

No further incidents of this nature have been reported to police and officers have conducted extra patrols in the area and have been working with the local schools to provide reassurance. Offences such as this remain extremely rare.

The suspect is described as a black man, approximately 5ft 10in tall and approximately 20 years old with either a tattoo or a scar on his neck/neckline. He was wearing a black puffa jacket and dark trousers.

Detective Inspector Ella Marriott of Sapphire said:

"The victim was understandably frightened by this incident and has been supported by specialist officers whilst enquiries have been taking place. We have come to a stage in the investigation where we need the public's help in identifying the man responsible and would ask anyone
who recognises the e-fit, or has suspicions that someone could be involved, to call police."

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 020 8733 3773 or speak to Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

29th June 2011

25th May 2011