A man from Haringey has been jailed after he kidnapped and sexually assaulted a young woman who injured herself falling down some stairs on the tube network.

At about 6am on June 16, 2019, Sharif Abbas, of Nightingale Road, Bounds Green, offered to help the woman who had fallen down some stairs while walking between platforms at Bond Street Tube station.

But rather than seeking medical attention for the woman - who had a broken wrist and was profusely bleeding from a skull-exposing head injury - 31-year-old Abbas led her to the empty basement of a nearby building where he carried out his attack.

He was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court today - Friday, July 15 - to four years’ imprisonment for sexual assault and four years for kidnap, with the sentences to be served concurrently.

He was found guilty of the crimes on December 16 at the same court.

Jurors heard how he had donned a high-vis vest, that he had obtained two years before when he was employed conducting bus passenger surveys, to give the impression he worked for TfL.

Abbas told detectives he carried it with him for use if he went running or "in case he came across an accident or something".

It was only because he had unknowingly triggered a silent alarm when entering the basement that police attended to investigate and arrested Abbas on suspicion of sexual assault.

The judge in the case said he had "no doubt" that had police not attended in that moment, that Abbas would have gone on to commit a more serious sexual assault.

DC Nigel Pacquette said: “Abbas claimed that he had taken the victim into the basement in order to check her body for cuts and bruises, after which he was going to help her - yet he stated he had no medical training, nor had he taken any actions to address her significant head wound.

“To take advantage of a seriously injured woman, particularly at a time when she required urgent medical attention, is deplorable.

“He was calculating and predatory and the verdict is wholly the right outcome to ensure that other women are protected from him."