Sex Attacker Jailed

Man jailed in connection with sexual assaults on teenage girls following retrial.

Adil Hoque of Sheringham Avenue, E12 was sentenced on Friday 19 April, at the Inner London Crown Court following an investigation by detectives from Sapphire.

He was sentenced to eight years in a young offenders institute for attempted rape and 18 months in a young offenders institute for the sexual assault. The terms are to run consecutively.

He had been found guilty of sexual assault and attempted rape in March.

On 11 May 2011 Hoque met with a 17-year-old girl who he had been communicating with via Twitter and offered to drive her to college. He parked his car close to empress road E4 where he sexually assaulted her. The girl managed to escape when Hoque was disturbed by a passerby. She reported the attack to police later that day.

Later in the year, Hoque began communicating with a 14-year-old girl via Blackberry Messenger (BBM). He met with her on Romford Road, E12 having telephoned her school pretending to be her uncle. Hoque took her back to his home address where he attempted to rape her.

The girl reported the incident to police on 19 January 2012.

Hoque was arrested by detectives from Waltham Forest CID in October 2011 in connection with the first offence and subsequently charged with sexual assault on 10 November 2011. He was arrested and charged on 2 February 2012 in connection with the second offence by officers from Sapphire.

Hoque originally stood trial between September and October 2012 and was found guilty of attempted rape and acquitted of rape. The jury failed to reach a verdict on a third charge and was subsequently discharged.

A retrial took place in respect of the charge of sexual assault and he was found guilty.

Detective Inspector Simon Ellershaw, of Sapphire, said:

"This conviction has resulted in a man being sent to prison who was clearly a danger to young women - a man who obviously felt that it was his right to have sex with girls simply because they had agreed to meet with him - he deliberatly targetted vulnerable girls; it also highlights the dangers of meeting people you don't know having had contact with them only via social media - in this case blackberry messenger. It may well be that other girls have been put in a similar situation by this man and if this is the case they should contact their local police."