A pervert who sexually assaulted women as young as 17 on trains is facing a prison sentence.
Mohammed Ismail, 39, targeted the women on trains leaving Manchester’s Piccadilly station over summer last year.
Because of the heatwave, one of the victims was wearing shorts when Ismail sat next to her and started stroking her thigh.
The victim said: ‘He was so close he was touching me. He touched my thigh and rubbed it up and down from the top of knee to the pelvis area – so, the full length of it.
‘I moved his hand away and he put his hand back on it again. I felt so vulnerable and trapped. I was in disbelief really, you don’t think this kind of thing is going to happen to you.’
The assault only came to an end when she moved and told another female passenger.
On a second occasion he started talking to a victim, making her feel uncomfortable, before getting so close to her that when he started stroking his own thigh she could feel it rubbing against her own.
She said: ‘His thigh was touching mine and he was moving his hand up and down his trouser pocket which I could feel.
‘I thought, is he actually doing what I think he is? I moved and he pulled his hand away but he did it again, moving his hand up and down his jeans next to my leg.’
She then went to find the train conductor to report what had happened.
Both women identified Ismail in a police identity parade but he denied the allegations saying he was arrested as a result of mistaken identity.
Ismail has a history of carrying out sex attacks including one assault on a girl under the age of 16.
The latest victim, 17, told Manchester Square Crown Court: ‘Since this happened I don’t sleep very well. I have flashbacks and panic attacks about what happened. ‘Sometimes it feels like only yesterday that it happened.’ Ismail will be sentenced at a later date but in the meantime he must get police permission to catch trains.
