Police launch CCTV appeal for man who 'dragged woman to ground then tried to rape her' on London Underground

Police have launched an appeal to identify a man following reports of an attempted rape on the London Underground.

British Transport Police (BTP) said a man approached a lone woman on a Bakerloo line train at around 11.40pm on Saturday.

The man exposed himself to the woman before forcibly dragging her to the ground and trying to rape her.

The woman managed to fight him off, fleeing the train as it stopped at a station in the south of the capital.

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The "horrific incident" happened between Waterloo and Lambeth North stations, police said.

BTP Detective Sergeant Krishan Appannah said: "Our officers are supporting the victim following this horrific incident.

"We understand incidents of this nature are deeply concerning for the public and we're appealing to them directly to help us identify the man in the CCTV footage. One line of enquiry is that he may be homeless.

"We are asking anyone who recognises the man in the images to text us his name to 61016 quoting reference 948 of 11 July.

"He may have vital information that could assist our ongoing investigation."

Witnesses or anyone with information can also contact BTP by calling 0800 40 50 40 or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

In March, the London Assembly released a bombshell report laying bare the scale of violence against women and girls on London's transport network.

City Hall's police and crime committee found the level of crimes against women and girls to be "unacceptable" in the report.

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In 2025 there were 4,593 offences recorded by British Transport Police - 97 per cent of which did not result in a charge or summons.

Around 58 per cent of cases resulted in no suspect being identified.

In 2025, the number of sexual offences on the London Underground reached its highest level in five years.

There were 595 sexual offences on the Tube in 2024-25, the most since 2019-20, when there were 776 reports.

The London Assembly called for BTP, the Metropolitan Police and Transport for London (TfL) to form a rapid response taskforce to tackle VAWG and hate crime on the capital's transit systems.

The Committee argued the BTP and Met Police failed to understand the "true scale and nature of hate crime and VAWG on public transport".

In a statement at the time, BTP said: "We know that reporting crime needs to be easy and discreet, and we're proud of our text 61016 service which allows passengers to report crime to us discreetly and for free. Last year we received a 20 per cent increase in reports."

Siwan Hayward, TfL's director of security, policing and enforcement, also said at the time: "We have a strong police and enforcement presence on our services and in our stations to prevent crime, and are determined to continue working together to make the transport network a hostile place for offenders.

"We welcome the committee's report and will be responding to the recommendations in due course."

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