A teenager has been jailed for five years after smirking at a CCTV camera before sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl.

After a five-day trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court, Tommi Harwood, 18, was found guilty of raping a girl he met at a train station two years ago.

A court heard how Harwood, then 16, had been messaging a girl on Snapchat on September 5, 2024, telling her his name was ‘Bobby’.

She had told him she was on a train, and he asked to meet at Romford Station. Just after 8pm, she arrived at the station and he met her on the platform.

In footage shared by police, Harwood can be seen standing on the platform wearing a black jacket and trousers, smiling at a camera.

Once his victim arrived, he led her into a waiting room and repeatedly asked her to check if anyone was in the women’s toilets.

When she then went to use the toilets, Harwood followed her in and raped her.

When they returned to the platform, he reportedly told the girl, ‘if we see police, run across the tracks’.

She then reported what happened to British Transport Police (BTP), with its Major, Serious and Organised Crime (MSOC) team investigating.

A manhunt was launched but he was not found until October 25, when officers spotted him at Basildon station.

Harwood had been stopped for travelling without a valid ticket, arrested, and taken into custody to be interviewed.

Forensic evidence, CCTV footage, and the victim’s testimony meant the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) authorised the rape charge.

BTP Detective Constable Ross McAlpine 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.’

He called the teenager’s attack ‘premeditated and frankly abhorrent’, adding that he ‘poses a very real threat to women and girls.’

Along with the five year imprisonment, Harwood was given an indefinite restraining order and an eight-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).

DC McAlpine added: ‘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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