Victim calls on police to take flashers seriously
A WOMAN jogger left “violated” after being targeted by a flasher was told by police that an officer would phone her two days later.
April-Joy Serrant, 35, had expected a prompt response to catch the man who pounced from a wooded area and performed a sex act as she was running.
Instead she was stunned when told no officers were available but she should expect a call 48 hours later where she would be asked for a description of the offender.
April-Joy is now demanding that police forces across the UK start treating cases like this seriously.
She said: “I felt utterly disappointed and enraged.”
West Yorkshire Police admitted the incident “wasn’t dealt with as it should have been” and have now arrested and charged a 29-year-old man.
April-Joy, a personal development business owner, said she has been inundated with messages from women across the UK who have had a similar experience.
And in the light of cases such as Sarah Everard in London and the rape and murder of Hull student
Libby Squire by a serial sex pest, she wants UK police forces to take it as “a watershed moment” that such attacks are no longer treated as a “low level crime”.
April-Joy backs the Express crusade to make Britain’s streets safe for women. She said: “I have had over 500 private messages from women, many telling me of similar experiences.We need to change the mindset that this is acceptable.
“The situation has to change and individuals have to have the fear of knowing they cannot get away with just being the ‘weirdo in the woods’.
“There is nothing funny about it, I was terrified and felt completely violated. These cases can escalate and that’s what terrifies me most about the original police response.”
The married mother-of-three was jogging along the popular canal towpath in Baildon, West Yorks, last Friday afternoon shortly before she was due to make the school run.
She added: “As I was running I saw a figure run out of the trees. He was only five metres away and my first thought was that he was wearing peach-coloured leg-ins. Then I realised his trousers were down.”
As the man performed a sex act, April-Joy ran away.
She said: “I was alone. I was in a state of panic. Every police force across this country should take it as seriously as women do. This is the moment to say ‘enough’.”
April-Joy posted a video on social media which she says prompted the police to take her seriously.
Chief Supt Daniel Greenwood apologised and said: “It wasn’t dealt with as it should have been and we will review what happened.”
Andre Esteves, of Shipley, appeared at Bradford magistrates court yesterday charged with exposure.