A man has become the first person in England and Wales to be convicted under a new law that bans harassment motivated by a person's sex. David Stroud, 44, was sentenced after he grabbed a woman's hair and asked to kiss her on a train, in a case that prosecutors described as a landmark for the legislation.
The offence took place on a train travelling from Hastings to London around two months ago. Stroud, a father of two, was drunk when he approached a woman who was talking to her boyfriend on the phone. He told her she was magical and repeatedly leaned on her before grabbing her hair and asking whether he could kiss her.
The woman's boyfriend reported the behaviour to police, and the case was brought by the British Transport Police. It fell under new sex-based harassment laws that had come into force only two days before Stroud was arrested, making it the first conviction of its kind in England and Wales.
In court, the woman gave a powerful victim impact statement describing the lasting effect of what happened. She said she had been left paralysed with fear, and that the incident had made her feel trapped, petrified and powerless, long after the encounter on the train itself was over.
The Crown Prosecution Service described the case as a landmark moment for the new law. Prosecutors said Stroud had targeted the woman because she was a woman, that she was on her own on the train, and that his actions had caused her real distress, which established the motivation the legislation is designed to capture.
Officials stressed that while both men and women can be victims of this type of crime, women are disproportionately affected. They said the aim was to ensure that women and girls feel safe going about their everyday lives in public, including on the railways, where such offences have been rising.
Stroud was given a 12-month community order. He was also told to complete a 15-day rehabilitation order and 150 hours of unpaid work, and will be fitted with a tag to monitor his alcohol intake over 90 days. Outside court, asked if he had anything to say to the victim, he apologised, saying he was deeply sorry and wished it had not happened.