Sex attacker who struck near Buckingham Palace was tracked to his Southwark home on a hire bike
A sex attacker who pounced yards from Buckingham Palace was caught after meticulous scouring of CCTV footage found him fleeing the scene on a hire bike.
When he was arrested, detectives found Chris Wright, of Southwark, had also masturbated onto a woman’s bag on a train – so was also jailed for that sexual assault.
Detectives who tracked him fear Wright, of Nelson Square, might have escalated his violence against women had he not been caught so soon after the rape.
Wright pleaded guilty to both sexual assaults at Southwark Crown Court on 20 December 2021. He was sentenced on 14 January 2022 to three years and eight months’ imprisonment. He will also be placed on the sex offenders register for life.
Wright, 28, of Southwark, followed and sexually assaulted a woman who was walking in St James’s Park at around 11.30pm on 29 January 2021. He dragged her to the ground while masturbating and stated his intention to have sex with her. The woman bit his hand and he made off on a Santander hire bike.
Detectives based at Charing Cross police station launched an investigation and meticulous analysis of CCTV between St James’s Park and Southwark enabled officers to track Wright as he cycled away from the attack. He was eventually seen on CCTV to dock the bike in Lower Marsh, SE1.
Subsequent enquiries and analysis enabled detectives to link the hire bike used to Wright. He was arrested on 5 March 2021 and charged with the offence in St James’s Park.
DNA was taken while Wright was in custody. This was matched with an outstanding suspect for an offence on 2 February 2021 on a South Eastern train from London Waterloo, when it was reported to British Transport Police that a man had masturbated onto the bag of a female passenger. Wright was also charged with sexual assault for this offence.
Detective Constable Henh Ban Song of Central West CID said: “My colleagues and I are using all legitimate methods at our disposal to identify and convict those who commit crimes against women in the capital.
“In this case, Met officers based at Charing Cross police station used technologies including the CCTV network, financial instrument analysis and DNA matching to identify and convict the offender.
“Women and girls in London are safer for our hard work and tenacity.
“In my view, Wright’s offending may have escalated quickly and alarmingly had he not been caught so soon after the offence in St James’s Park.
“I am appealing for anyone else who may have been a victim of Wright to contact me by calling 101 with the reference 6502934/21.”
Photo by DAVID ILIFF. License: CC BY-SA 3.0
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