Staring on Tube ‘should be liable to prosecution’ in way of sexually motivated crimes

Head of British Transport Police team who catch offenders says commuters must ‘drive out’ behaviour

STARING on the Tube can be a gateway to “unhealthy sexual behaviours” and must be prosecuted, a senior British Transport Police (BTP) officer has said.

A recent campaign by Transport for London received criticism for including “staring” alongside other unwanted sexual behaviours such as upskirting and touching.

The proposals came following a 175 per cent increase in reports of sexual offences on Britain’s transport network since the end of lockdown.

Det Supt Sarah White, who leads BTP’s sexual offences team, dismissed the criticism and warned that her force is receiving daily reports of individuals committing sexual offences, including staring, across the country.

Last month, the force secured a conviction after a woman travelling on a train from Reading in Berkshire reported that a man was “continuously staring” at her.

Dominik Bullock, 26, was sentenced to 22 weeks in prison.

Det Supt White warned that the force will pursue other suspects, as individuals who stare are “starting to show behaviours that are unhealthy”.

“It’s human nature to stare at things. However, it’s very different when someone is staring, leering, or there’s a sexual motivation,” Det Supt White said.

“If someone is staring at me in a sexual manner or leering and my gut feeling is that I am feeling uncomfortable and that feels sexually challenging, then that is what we are talking about and there is a distinct difference between the two.

“We want to know about that staring because that is the behaviour that suggests to me that someone is thinking about a sexual behaviour that supports that staring.

“That is, to me, sexually motivated and this is where very early days this sort of behaviour is starting, which is why we say report it.

“We will record them as crimes and we will investigate them and we have had successful prosecutions in that field.”

In the 12 months up to March 2019, 361 reports of sexual offences were recorded across the country, which increased to 175 per cent to 995 reports in the year ending March 2022 as lockdown ended and commuters returned to the office.

‘My advice is that you never know who you are sitting next to on the railway because it could be a copper’

Det Supt White leads a team of undercover police officers who ride the Tubes and trains to catch predators in the act.

“My advice would be that you never know who you are standing or sitting next to on the railway because it could be a copper,” Det Supt White said.

BTP is launching an app in the summer called Railway Guardian, which will call on commuters to challenge and report sexual behaviour on the transport network.

“It calls upon individuals who are travelling and bystanders to act and intercept safely and legally, but to drive out this type of behaviour and to work and make the environment hostile,” Det Supt White said.

“We want to say to people, look, if you see someone staring, or you see someone leering and they look uncomfortable then there are very simple ways that you can diminish that situation, stop that behaviour, and report it.”