Night Tube Predator Jailed After Targeting Women on London Underground

A sex offender who targeted women on late-night Tube services has been jailed for more than four years after British Transport Police linked him to a series of offences on the London Underground.

Salman Yousaf, 46, of HMP Pentonville, admitted nine charges in total, made up of eight counts of sexual assault and one count of outraging public decency.

He was sentenced at Inner London Crown Court on 20 May to four-and-a-half years in prison. A further four years will be served on licence after his release.

Yousaf was also placed on the sex offenders register for life and made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

The offences were committed between 2017 and 2021, with all of them taking place on Tube trains at night. British Transport Police said Yousaf deliberately targeted women on night services, including those who had fallen asleep.

The first offence happened at around 5am on 11 March 2017, when Yousaf masturbated in front of a woman on a Central Line train near Stratford.

He then went on to sexually assault women on eight separate occasions on Central Line and Jubilee Line services.

At the time the offences were identified by BTP, Yousaf was already serving a seven-year prison sentence. In 2024, the Metropolitan Police Service passed information to BTP detectives about his offending pattern.

Detectives compared that information with live investigations into sexual offending on the London Underground where the suspect had not been identified, and where the circumstances matched the Metropolitan Police case.

Further enquiries linked Yousaf to nine offences. He was arrested in prison on 16 April 2024 and gave no comment when questioned.

The Crown Prosecution Service authorised nine charges against him. As his trial approached, Yousaf changed his plea from not guilty and admitted all the offences.

BTP Detective Constable Iryna Cuthbert said:

“Salman Yousaf is a calculated predator who deliberately exploited the night-time rail network to target lone women, using their isolation to commit a series of premeditated crimes. Even when confronted, he showed a complete lack of remorse – the same absence of remorse he demonstrated at his sentencing. Thanks to the information provided by our colleagues at the MPS, we were able to link him to a catalogue of vile sexual offending and ultimately extend his stay behind bars beyond 2030. Yousaf’s crimes will have a lasting impact on the women he targeted. I want to acknowledge their bravery in coming forward and reporting what happened, and I hope his sentence brings them some measure of justice. Tackling sexual offending on the railway is a top priority for BTP and we encourage anyone who is victim of, or witness to, this crime type to report it to us using our 61016 text service.”

Image: British Transport Police