'Abhorrent' 18-year-old boy jailed after raping teenage girl in UK train station toilets

'Abhorrent' 18-year-old boy jailed after raping teenage girl in UK train station toilets The teenager has been jailed after the girl reported the incident to police after he followed her into the women's toilet and raped her - it has been described as a 'premeditated' and 'abhorrent' attack A teenager who raped a girl at a busy UK train station has been sent to prison. Tommi Harwood, 18, of Andersons in Stanford-le-Hope, was messaging a 16-year-old girl on Snapchat and told her his name was ‘Bobby’. Harwood was also 16 at the time. During the conversation on September 5, 2024 it was mentioned that she was on a train, and Harwood asked to meet her at Romford station. The train pulled into the station at just after 8pm and he met her on the platform. He then led her into a waiting room and repeatedly asked her to check if anyone was in the women’s toilets. After a short while she went to use the toilet, but Harwood followed and raped her. They returned to the platform and he told the victim, “If we see police, run across the tracks”. The girl reported what happened to her and met with British Transport Police detectives the following day and a manhunt was launched to track down Harwood, but initial efforts to locate him were unsuccessful. However, on October 25 he was sotted at Basildon station where he was stopped by rail staff for travelling without a valid ticket. He was promptly arrested and taken to police custody to be interviewed. On Friday, October 9 at Snaresbrook Crown Court, he was sentenced to five years imprisonment. He was also handed an indefinite restraining order and an eight-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO). 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. “Harwood’s attack was premeditated and frankly abhorrent. Through his actions, he has shown that he poses a very real threat to women and girls. “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.”