A 20-year-old man has admitted sexually assaulting a young woman by exposing himself and pushing into her from behind as she waited in the queue to attend the Queen’s lying in state.
Adeshina Adio, from south-east London, jumped into the River Thames to escape arrest after assaulting the woman at Victoria Tower Gardens as she waited in the queue to pay her respects to the late monarch. He was detained by officers when he came out of the water.
Adio, who has eight previous convictions for 29 offences, including recent sexual offences, also breached a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).
He targeted his victim on the evening of 14 September, the day that Westminster Hall first opened its doors to the public. The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, noticed Adio because she had not previously seen him in the queue – despite having waited with the same people for hours, Southwark crown court heard on Friday.
She felt him “pushing into her” and then “could feel something touching her back”, the prosecutor, Alex Adowale, told the court. When she turned around, she saw he had exposed himself.
Despite being “very concerned”, she did not wish to alert Adio to the fact she realised what he was doing. She then saw him approaching another woman in the queue before exposing himself and pushing into that woman, the court heard, but “was not sure if the person had realised”.
The young woman and her sister then tried to form a barrier to prevent Adio reaching others in the queue and alerted the security staff, who called the police.
At this point, Adio was described as “trying to make off” – he threw his mobile phone into the Thames and jumped in himself “in an attempt to evade officers, before coming out a short while later”, Adowale said.
The court heard that Adio has “complex mental health issues” and had been diagnosed as having autistic spectrum disorder.
He initially denied any sexual assault, but then pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting the young woman and to breaching his SHPO, which banned him from touching or exposing himself in a public place.
However, he denied the further count of sexually assaulting “an unknown woman”. These pleas were deemed to be “acceptable to the crown”.
At an earlier hearing, Adowale warned the court that Adio “poses a real threat to members of the public, namely women”.
District crown prosecutor Anita Arora said she hoped the successful prosecution of Adio would encourage others who have been affected by this type of assault to come forward. She described Adio’s behaviour as “disgusting”, adding: “He subjected the victim to a very public sexual assault.
“The incident was hugely distressing for the victim and her family, who were with her at the time, and she behaved with composure and courage.”
