Police lose train 'groper' case

The Metropolitan Police has failed in its attempts to ban a man from the railways who groped women's bottoms.

Lawyers for the Met failed to get overturned an earlier decision by Croydon Crown Court that the ban on Mark Burrell, 48, was unjustified.

But the High Court upheld the judge's decision saying the risk of "sexual harm was less than serious".

The ban on Burrell, from Thornton Heath, south London, was originally imposed by magistrates in 2005.

It prevented him from entering any railway stations or attempting to travel by train for a period of five years, save in an emergency or when specially authorised by police.

Serious harm

Burrell was first convicted of sexual assault almost 30 years ago.

He has since been convicted of a further four similar offences over the decades - three on trains, one at a railway station and another at a laundrette.

His counsel Geoffrey Porter said: "It is quite clearly agreed between the parties that Mr Burrell is a groper. He reaches for their bottoms."

But judges at the High Court said the travelling ban was unnecessary.

"Some courts in this case might have concluded there was sufficient risk of serious harm," said Lord Justice Hughes.

"Others, on the other hand, could perfectly properly come to the same conclusion this judge did that the risk here of sexual harm was less than serious."

The judge said there was evidence of the last victim saying that she felt she had been "raped" and would not now travel on a train by herself.

But she had said this on the day of the offence and there was no evidence as to whether the incident had had a long-lasting effect.