MAN RECEIVES COMMUNITY ORDER IN FIRST SEX HARASSMENT PROSECUTION

David Stroud has received a 12-month community order following the first criminal prosecution of its kind in England and Wales under legislation banning sex-based harassment. British Transport Police brought the case after Stroud grabbed a woman's hair and asked to kiss her aboard a train travelling from Hastings, East Sussex, to London. Stroud, from Dartford in Kent, had pleaded guilty at Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court in May. The sentencing took place on Tuesday.

The incident occurred after a new law came into force specifically prohibiting harassment motivated by a person's sex. Stroud sat beside the woman while she was speaking on the phone to her boyfriend. The court heard he repeatedly leaned on her and described her as "magical." The case was investigated and brought by British Transport Police.

In a statement read at the sentencing, the woman said she had felt "trapped, powerless and petrified" during the incident. She told the court she now feels the need to have company whenever she leaves her home and said she can no longer travel alone. The sentencing at Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court marks the first time a criminal court in England and Wales has handed down a sentence under this category of sex-based harassment law. The case establishes a legal precedent for future prosecutions brought under the legislation.