Teenager who winked at a victim after Tube sexual assault jailed for four years, eight months
Hadi Al Koumi convicted of sexually assaulting four women across London Underground stations and trains in August 2024
An 18-year-old man who sexually assaulted four women on the London Underground over a three-day period in August 2024 was jailed on Friday for four years and eight months.
Hadi Al Koumi, of Ealing, west London, attacked women at or on trains at St John’s Wood, Green Park, East Acton and aboard a service between Greenford and Perivale between Aug. 6 and Aug. 8, 2024, prosecutors said. In one incident at Green Park, after assaulting a woman from behind and briefly walking away, he turned back and winked at her, the court heard. In another case a woman escaped by throwing a glass at Al Koumi as train doors opened.
Al Koumi was arrested by patrolling British Transport Police officers on Aug. 27, 2024, after CCTV captured his movements in all four cases, the force said. He was convicted at a trial at Isleworth Crown Court of one count of sexual assault and had previously pleaded guilty to three further counts.
The court imposed a six-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order and ordered Al Koumi to register on the Sex Offenders Register for life. Detective Sergeant Matthew Nolan of the British Transport Police said Al Koumi had "taken deliberate advantage of the rail network in order to assault multiple women for his own sexual gratification" and described him as a "dangerous predator." He added that uniformed patrols and plainclothes officers were deployed to keep the travelling public safe.
The sentencing comes amid a rise in reported crimes on the Underground. Transport for London data cited by police showed 16,288 crimes reported on the network between January and August 2024, a 13% increase on the same period a year earlier, and officials have said incidents on the Tube have risen since 2016. The figures have renewed scrutiny of safety on the capital’s transport network and the resources devoted to policing it.
Other recent transport-related prosecutions include the jailing of 53-year-old Liam McGuicken for 16 months after he was seen on CCTV rifling through the wallet of a deaf woman in her 80s at Westminster station. Footage of a separate violent melee at Highbury & Islington station in July also drew attention after bystanders intervened to protect a mother and her child caught up in the disturbance.
The British Transport Police said it would continue to pursue offenders and asked anyone with information about offences on the rail network to contact officers. Isleworth Crown Court handed down Al Koumi’s sentence following the trial, bringing legal closure to the victims identified in the prosecution.