A woman who reported being groped by two men on the London Underground claims police did not respond to her call for 13 hours.
Incident on the Elizabeth Line
Esme Rice, 31, says she was sexually assaulted while alighting an Elizabeth line train at Stratford station in East London at around 11pm on June 6. She claims that despite texting British Transport Police (BTP) on 61016 within two minutes of the alleged attack, officers did not contact her until midday the following day.
Esme, a marketing agency founder, says she feels 'massively let down' by the series of events and has since shared her story on social media to draw attention to her experiences. BTP stated that it takes all reports of sexual offences 'extremely seriously' and that, 'time and time again', the force has brought offenders to justice.
Details of the Assault
Esme, from Hackney Wick, East London, said two men - who she believes to be buskers - got on at either Liverpool Street station or Whitechapel station. She had been out for dinner with a friend before heading home on the Elizabeth Line, getting on at Farringdon station.
Looking back on the assault, Esme said: 'They immediately started trying to get my attention. One of them was playing music on a violin within inches of my face. I was just ignoring them. I was groped by two men. I was getting off the train at the time that it happened, so I had no opportunity to process this before the doors were shut and they were already gone. I really just wanted to get out of there and get home.'
Delayed Police Response
Esme texted 61016 - the dedicated text service for BTP - two minutes after the alleged assault. She says then 'waited up for hours' for a call back from the force - but her phone didn't ring.
When Esme finally received her call 13 hours after the assault, she says they asked her to speak with them that Monday to give a statement. An hour before, she decided to share her experience on social media to raise awareness.
She said: 'I was really scared. It is just harrowing and you feel so unsafe. I know that I can't fight anyone off, I am not going to get physical with anyone. You just feel uneasy knowing that the safety blanket that you think is there of the officers is not there. It is shocking because those men stayed on that train and could have continued assaulting people.'
Esme added: 'I texted and I knew exactly where they were at that time, and if police had come at that moment on that train they would have been caught and stopped. It just feels very disappointing.'
Public Response and Support
Esme says there has been an overwhelming response from other women who have been through similar experiences following her social media post.
She said: 'I am just angry. I just feel like this has happened to me so many times. I am equally saddened as I am empowered to use my voice and try to do something about it because it just feels like unless we speak up about it we don't know what is actually being done.'
Esme added: 'My biggest thing is the amount of people who have resonated with it. Every hour I am receiving messages, DMs, comments, of someone else sharing their story of this happening to them.'
Appeal for Suspects
Esme says that she does not blame BTP, as she believes it is their lack of funding and resources that has caused the slow response. There is now an appeal out for two men in relation to the reported assault.
She said: 'I feel massively let down. It has been very impactful. You get sexually assaulted and then there is a second wave of realising that it is going to go nowhere. Nobody is going to come and help you. Me coming out and saying this is not against the BTP. They do not have the resources or structure currently to support against the amount of sexual assaults that are actually happening.'
BTP Statement
A BTP spokesperson said: 'Tackling sexual offending on the railway is a force priority for us, and we're committed to protecting everyone's right to a safe journey. We're tireless in our efforts to raise public awareness of when and how to report crime, such as using our discreet text-to-report service. No report is too small or too trivial – every single sex offence reported to us is taken extremely seriously and we will always do everything in our power to bring predatory sex offenders to justice.'
They added: 'The 61016 number receives over a quarter of a million texts every year – and this figure continues to rise as confidence grows among passengers in reporting historically underreported crimes, such as sexual offending. This isn't misplaced confidence, as we've shown time and time again that we won't stop until we've caught offenders, put them before the courts, and secured justice for victims.'
