Man jailed for sexual assaults after Met Police track rental bike

Christion Wright was sentenced to almost four years in prison and placed on the sex offenders register for life

DNA was taken while Mr Wright was in custody which matched him to an offence from February 2021 (Met Police)

A man has been jailed for two sexual assaults after Met detectives tracked his bike to a cycle hire docking station.

Christion Wright, 28, was sentenced to three years and eight months behind bars and will be placed on the sex offenders register for life, after pleading guilty to both charges.

In January 2021, Wright, of Southwark, London, followed and assaulted a woman who was walking in St James’s Park late at night. He dragged her to the ground and stated his intention to have sex with her before the victim bit his hand as he made off on a Santander hire bike.

The bike was tracked by officers based at Charring Cross police station who analysed CCTV between St James’s Park and Southwark. Wright was captured on CCTV docking the bike in Lower Marsh.

Subsequent enquiries and analysis enabled detectives to link the bike to Wright, and he was arrested on 5 March 2021 and charged with the offence.

DNA was taken while Wright was in custody which matched him to an offence from 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.

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.”

She added: “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.”