PREDATORY OFFENDER JAILED FOR 15 YEARS
ATTACKER WHO PREYED ON LONE WOMEN IS GIVEN A 15-YEAR SENTENCE
A “PREDATORY offender” who attacked and sexually assaulted women walking alone has been jailed for 15 years.
Thomas Biggs, 22, of Wraysbury Drive, West Drayton, was sentenced at Isleworth Crown Court on Friday May 26.
He had previously pleaded guilty on Monday February 27 to assault by penetration, sexual assault of a female, attempted sexual assault of a female, two counts of attempted kidnap and two counts of robbery.
Biggs’ victims were groped and thrown on the ground where they were sexually assaulted in a “degrading and terrifying” way and on one occasion a victim’s handbag was stolen after an attack.
Detective Sergeant Daniel Langton said: “Biggs is a predatory offender who attacked lone women in public, and the attacks seemed to escalate in terms of the violence used. These attacks were degrading and terrifying for the victims who have been incredibly brave in providing us with accounts of what happened to them and descriptions of the suspect.”
Biggs’ first attack happened on April 17 2016 when he assaulted a jogger as she was running along a towpath on the Slough arm of the Grand Union Canal.
He grabbed her upper body as she ran passed him and when she tried to scream he put his hand over her mouth and they both fell to the ground. Biggs sexually assaulted her before she managed to run away.
He then sexually assaulted a 37-year-old woman as she walked along a canal towpath in Iver, Buckinghamshire, in June 2016.
In a separate incident, Biggs tried to drag a 33-year-old woman towards an alleyway in West Drayton in July 2016, after he jumped out from behind a hedge and grabbed her, as she walked along Merivale Mews, off Tavistock Road.
She managed to fight him off and break free from his grip and he ran off towards Tavistock Road.
Later that year, on October 30, a 33-year-old woman had got off a Route 350 bus in West Drayton and was walking along Station Road towards West Drayton railway station to call a taxi.
As she was walking, a man rode past her on a bicycle and groped her. The victim shouted at him as she rode away and the man then stopped and dropped his bike on the pavement.
He grabbed her and pushed her up against a wall and sexually assaulted her, trying to remove her skirt and underwear. He then threw her on the ground and committed a serious sexual assault.
When he got up and cycled off, he stole the woman’s handbag.
The victim’s husband later called her phone which had been stolen and he received a text from the suspect.
The final attack happened the following day, on October 31, as a 43-year-old woman was walking home from the gym.
She cut through an alleyway in Uxbridge, linking St Johns Road and Culvert Lane, and saw a man running towards her. She got out of the way to let him pass but he ran at her and threw her to the floor, causing her to bang her head on the concrete floor.
The victim suffered injuries, for which she needed hospital treatment. The attacker stole her rucksack and ran towards St Johns Road and the contents of the bag were later discovered in a nearby park.
Detectives linked the offences, two of which were investigated by Thames Valley Police, and Met Police launched an investigation.
Officers carried out extensive CCTV enquiries and analysed phone signals from when the suspect sent the text message.
An e-fit of the suspect was issued as part of an appeal and Biggs was identified as a potential suspect.
Biggs was arrested on suspicion of sexual assaults, robbery and possession of Class B drugs and was later identified by two victims during am identity parade.
Initially Biggs denied all charges against him, but changed his plea to guilty.
However, he did plead not guilty to a third count of sexual assault in relation to an attack on a 22-year-old woman on a canal path in Harefield, Uxbridge on May 22 2016 – this charge will lie on file.
Biggs will remain on licence for a further five years and will remain on the sexual offenders’ register for life.