City Tech Exec's Boozy Bum Grope

An IT specialist with a City tech company groped a young female trainee’s bum after a drunken team bonding session at a crazy golf venue, a court heard today.

The Moorgate firm funded a free bar at ‘Swingers’, in the heart of the Square Mile, where business development director Michael Swain, 35, drank heavily along with his colleagues, Inner London Crown Court heard.

When they continued drinking at the nearby ‘Slug & Lettuce’ pub he came behind the 23 year-old trainee, put his hand between her legs and groped her bum.

Swain, of Valkyrie Road, Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex had fought the case for four years, but after two hours of damning evidence changed his plea to guilty of one count of sexual assault at the City pub on September 13, 2019.

“She felt somebody grab her bottom, coming from underneath and his hand was between her legs,” said prosecutor Fer Chinner. “She saw that it was this defendant who touched her.

“She was in shock and said: ‘He’s just grabbed my bum.’ She was angry and was seen crying and went to the Ladies to calm down.”

When she reported Swain to her bosses the following Monday he remained with the company after apologising during disciplinary proceedings, but she was so upset she resigned.

“She had been with the company for four months and Swain was known in the company to be a top performer, bringing in big revenues,” the prosecutor told the jury.

“They had quarterly team building days and after an 11am presentation they had lunch and then went to play crazy golf at ‘Swingers’.

“There was a free bar there, funded by the company, and by all accounts people were taking advantage and drinking quite a lot of alcohol.”

The company even had a beer tap in their office and enjoyed celebratory ‘Friday Shouts’ drinking sessions, congratulating staff for achievements during the week.

“They split into team to play golf and a colleague of Swain noted he ‘did not seem himself’ putting it down to also getting drunk the night before.”

Swain later told police he had attended a charity function the previous evening, followed by a trip to the casino, where he won £6,000, bought everybody drinks and had only two hours sleep that night.

Swain’s golf team included the complainant and another woman. “They were drunk, all of them. They had all been drinking,” explained Ms Chinner.

“This defendant asked the other woman: ‘Can I touch her inappropriately?’ referring to the complainant and then told the trainee herself: ‘She says I can’t touch you inappropriately.’

“The complainant put this down to being drunk and carried on and felt nothing of it.

“He then told her: ‘I’m going to take some cocaine,’ and offered her some, but she declined.”

At around 5.30pm a group of 15 went to the ‘Slug & Lettuce’ and continued drinking. 

“Swain was noted to be more drunk than the others and a colleague saw him grab another woman’s bottom and when she moved away he apologised and backed-off.”

Half an hour later the complainant was chatting to colleague Thomas Brook, when she felt Swain grope her from behind, the court heard.

“He got more intoxicated as the day went on,” Mr Brook told the trial. “I could see him stepping backwards and his hand coming away from her bottom.

“Initially there was a shock factor to it.”

The trial heard Swain was known as a “high flier” who “brought huge amounts of money into the company.”

Mr Brook agreed. “It is known within the company who the fast progressing members of the team are and who were bringing in large sales.”

Another colleague confronted Swain, saying: “You just assaulted her,” and the defendant replied: “Sorry. I f***ed up,” the jury were told.

“When she returned from the Ladies Swain apologised and she complained to HR and during disciplinary proceedings this defendant wrote a letter of apology to her.

“He wrote that he had little memory of the incident and was disappointed with himself.

“He was allowed to stay on and the complainant was very uncomfortable because Swain did not seem to stick by his apology and she handed in her resignation.”

Another colleague David Igbinovia told the jury: “I saw him with his hand. It definitely contacted the backside, the bum.

“She was mortified, absolutely shocked and I was as well. I said: ‘Michael, what the f*** are you doing? We are family here. You just assaulted her.

“She went to the toilet and she was in tears at that point and he said: ‘I’m sorry. I f***ed up.’

“She was quite concerned about reporting this, with him being so high up in the company.” 

Swain was questioned by police two weeks later and denied ever offering the young woman cocaine. He also said he was still drunk from the night before when he began drinking again.

“He accepted he touched her bottom through drunken boisterousness and it was not a sexual thing,” said Ms Chinner.

After Swain - who is no longer with the company - changed his plea to guilty Judge Jane Rowley bailed him until May 25 for sentencing, announcing: “I will be considering all options, including imprisonment.

“There may be other options. We need to see why he behaved this way because there is nothing to suggest he has done anything like this in the past.

“The complainant has waited months, years to give evidence due to the initial not guilty plea and I would appreciate a victim impact statement.” 

Tube Train Passenger Robbed Of Belongings

A morning tube train passenger was mugged for his coat; mobile phone; wallet; passport and bag by two unknown young males.

British Transport Police (BTP) have released this CCTV image of their suspects and are treating the incident as an offence of robbery.

Officers are appealing for members of the public to assist with their identification.

The victim was walking towards the Jubilee Line at Green Park station, central London at 9.40am on Thursday, November 24, last year.

He was stopped by two males who demanded his belongings.

They then snatched his coat, mobile phone, wallet, passport and bag.

The two males then ran off towards the northbound Victoria Line platform.

Officers would like to speak to the people in the images who may have information that can help their investigation.

Anyone who knows them is asked to contact BTP by texting 61016 or by calling 0800 40 50 40.

In both cases, quote reference number 161 of 24/11/22.

Alternatively, call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Mugged In The Ladies Toilet At Victoria Station

A young woman was struck to the floor and robbed of her headphones in the Ladies toilet of busy Victoria Station by a mystery male mugger.

British Transport Police have released this CCTV image of an unknown male suspect they are hunting and have requested the assistance of the public in identifying him.

The victim – aged in her twenties – entered the Ladies near Platform One at approximately 7.50am on Thursday, January 19.

A man entered and struck her to the head, causing her to fall to the floor.

He then snatched her headphones. 

Fortunately, the victim did not suffer any injuries.

The man fled the station via the Hudson’s place exit.

Officers would like to speak to the man in the images who may have information that could help their investigation.

Anyone who recognises him is asked to contact British Transport Police by texting 61016 or by calling 0800 40 50 40.

In both cases, quote reference number 328 of 19/01/23.

Alternatively, call Crimestoppers anonymously by calling 0800 555 111.

"Creepy" PCSO Accused Of Planting Unwanted Kiss On WPC

A Police Community Support Officer left a WPC in tears after pestering her for her phone number in the station’s basement gym before hugging and kissing her on the neck, a jury were told yesterday.

PCSO Edward Oniba, 54, was alone with the female officer at Kilburn Police Station and had previously showered her with compliments, which she told the court were “creepy.”

Oniba, of Pasteur Court, Nightingale Avenue, Harrow has pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual assault at the Salusbury Road, station in north-west London on October 30, 2020.

“He said: ‘How about a hug then?’ I don’t like hugging people, let alone strangers and said: ‘ Gosh, no I’m sweaty’ at which point he moved forward and put his arms around me,” she told Harrow Crown Court.

“I tapped him on the back and he’s kissed the right side of my neck. I was not sweaty, I just didn’t want him to hug me,” the officer added.

She abandoned her work-out due to Oniba staring at her, she said. “I don’t know if it was like a leer, but like a ‘hmmm…’ so I left.

“He was just looking at me as I was doing lunges and as I was doing mountain climbers he looked around the door.

“I was a little disgusted, shocked and frustrated that I didn’t asked him: ‘What do you think you are doing?’

“I think it is completely disgusting. I don’t see how he feels he has the right to kiss me on the neck, that’s incredibly personal.”

The Metropolitan Police officer of nine years told the court she had only spoken to Oniba for the first time a week before the incident.

She worked-out in a small area by the lift shaft next to the gym either before or after shifts and Oniba was the only person in the basement on that occasion.

“He asked questions like, was I married?,” she told jury, confirming she informed the defendant she had a police officer boyfriend.

“He said something like: ‘The good-looking ones are always taken,” and that he did not know why I was working-out because I looked good.

“He said he had not seen me in the gym for a while and always saw me going into work, walking past and he would check me out.

“I laughed it off as it was a work gym and it was a compliment, but there is a line to being creepy and he crossed that line to being weird.”

When she started her work-out a week later Oniba was there again. “I thought: ‘I really don’t want to be in this situation.’ I just wanted to get on with my work-out.

“He came out of the gym to talk to me and asked what team I worked on  and I told him the Response Team. He said: ‘Oh, I’d join if I knew you were there.’

“I told him I was leaving the team anyway and he said: ‘If you’re leaving you’ll have to give me your number.’

“I told him my partner would not like that, but he kept asking ‘if you are sure’ about five times.”

Oniba then moved into hug the petite officer, whose back was against the lift shaft wall, the court heard, but he denies placing his lips on her neck.

After abandoning her work-out the officer messaged a friend: ‘Ed is in the gym and he’s f***ing creepy.’

The friend responded that it was important the complainant’s police officer boyfriend did not find out. “He’s going to break quarantine and possibly someone’s face.”

The officer did not report Oniba immediately, messaging a friend: “I’d rather it if the world did not know.”

Four months later she made an anonymous complaint to the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards and their investigation identified both her and Oniba.

Prosecutor Peter Rouch KC said: “Apart from a polite ‘hello’ prior to the week before the incident the complainant had not spoken to this defendant or know his name.

“He carried on a conversation  a week before the incident in a personal and familiar way, saying things like: ‘You look good.’

“It was 7.45pm when she went to the gym and no-one else was there except the defendant, who removed his headphones when he saw her and began talking to her.

“She made it clear to him she was not giving him her telephone number.

“She was standing with her back to the lift shaft and the defendant was gradually getting closer to her and asked her if he could have a hug.

“He put both of his arms around her and hugged her and kissed her on the neck.

“She said she was going to complete her work-out, but was so upset by his behaviour she left and in tears telephoned a friend, a police officer and told them what had happened.”

The WPC WhatsApp messaged two other friends with a similar account of what happened.

“Another work colleague says she was sounding upset on the telephone and then found her at the station crying and later another police officer said she was still upset.”

A few moths later Oniba was working-out in the gym with a male police officer, the prosecutor told the jury. 

“This defendant told him he had been in the gym and there was a female police officer there that he found attractive and asked for her telephone number and that she said ‘no’ and he hugged her and kissed her on the neck.”

Oniba was questioned on May 27, 2021. “The defendant admitted hugging her, but absolutely denied kissing her on the neck.

“It is our case  he kissed her in the way described, totally without her consent.”

Trial continues……………..

Attacked For Asking Train Directions: Assault At Earl's Court Station

A tube train passenger was left needing surgery to his injured eye after simply asking a mystery man for directions.

The unknown male inflicted the injury when asked the destination of the next train.

British Transport Police (BTP) have released this image of their suspect and are requesting the assistance of the public in identifying him.

The victim was travelling through Earl's Court Underground Station at approximately 5.00pm on Saturday, January 14.

He told police that after enquiring if the train was travelling to Notting Hill the man assaulted him.

The victim was left with facial injuries to his eye, which required surgery.

Investigating officers would like to speak to the man in the images who may have information that can help their investigation.

Anyone who knows him is asked to contact BTP by texting 61016 or by calling 0800 40 50 40.

In both cases, quote reference number 420 of 14/01/23.

Alternatively, call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Young Females Wanted For Violent London Bridge Robbery Bid

Transport cops are hunting a gang of wannabe young female muggers, who knocked a woman unconscious at London Bridge Underground Station.

The victim sustained cuts and bruises to her face and body.

It is believed the attack only ended when station staff intervened.

British Transport Police (BTP) are treating the investigation as an attempted robbery.

Officers have released this image of the individuals they would like to speak to about the incident.

At approximately 11.45pm on Sunday, January 2 the victim was walking towards the exit at the station when she was approached by a group of women.

They threatened her, before launching the violent attack. 

None of the victim’s belongings were taken.

Officers would like to talk to the women in these images, as it is believed they may be able to help the investigation.

Anyone with information is asked to text BTP on 61016, or phone 0800 40 50 40, with reference 600 of 2 January.

Alternatively, you can contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Teen Stabbed In Head At Stratford Station

A 16 year-old youth was viciously beaten and stabbed in the head at a busy east London underground station.

British Transport Police (BTP) have released these CCTV images of three suspects they are searching for in relation to the incident.

The male victim was ambushed by two attackers after a third had tried to trip him up as he walked through Stratford Underground station at approximately 2.22pm on Monday, February 13.

The boy was kicked and stamped and stabbed in the head and arm.

The victim was taken to hospital, where he received treatment and is now recovering at home.

Detectives believe the young men in these CCTV images may have information which could help their investigation. 

If you recognise them or have any information please contact BTP by texting 61016 or calling 0800 40 50 40 quoting reference 603-13/02/23.

Alternatively you can call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Farmer Jailed For £1M-Plus VAT Fraud

A Horsham farmer was today sentenced to three years and eight months imprisonment for a VAT fraud.

Gayne Cooper, 62, who has two company directorships, appeared at Lewes Crown Court.

He had earlier appeared at Croydon Magistrates Court, where he pleaded guilty to one count of being knowingly concerned in the fraudulent evasion of VAT between April 1, 2013 and December 10, 2019.

Cooper, of Stonehouse Farm, Plummers Plain was said by the prosecution to be responsible for a £1.7m fraud.

He maintained the VAT figure was nearer £1.5m.

Cooper is a director of Hammer Valley Farm and Biowaste Recovery.

At the initial Magistrates Court appearance District Judge Devinder Sandhu announced: “The defendant has pleaded guilty to a serious offence. 

“It is a serious matter,” she told Cooper. “You have indicated a guilty plea to this court, which does not have sufficient sentencing powers to deal with you.”

Retrial For Accused "Can I Have A Go?" Rapist

A homeless passer-by, accused of raping an A-Level art student after asking: “Can I have a go?” has learned he will face a re-trial on the charge .

Rough sleeper Wesley Roden, 33, will return to Southwark Crown Court on June 10, next year to fight the allegation.

An eleven-strong jury failed to reach a majority 10-1 verdict either way after a week-long trial.

The complainant, who was 18 years-old at the time, told the trial she was being raped by a mystery male in Victoria Embankment Gardens, Charing Cross when Roden arrived on the scene.

She had gone to the West End with three female friends and after drinking a large quantity of alcohol and consuming drugs ended up in the small secure park with an unknown man she met in nearby Heaven nightclub in the early hours of August 16, 2019.

Roden, of Museum Street, Warrington told police he had consensual intercourse with the student after stumbling upon the pair having sex on the grass.

After one juror was discharged during the trial the remaining eleven members confirmed not even a majority verdict of ten of them was a prospect and Recorder Tom Forster KC announced: “I don’t have any option but to discharge the jury in this case.

“You have all done your best and you should be proud of yourselves,” he told them. “Thank-you for your time, energy and concentration.”

Champion Bodybuilder Stalked Ex

Guilty: Baldwinson

A champion bodybuilder stalked his ex-girlfriend after she dumped him via WhatsApp - leaving foul-mouthed voice messages about her suspected new boyfriend, a court heard.

Eighteen-stone Danny Baldwinson, 32, a former winner of Hercules Olympia, kept pestering business graduate Aaliyah Baptiste, 26, ignoring her protests to be left alone.

Three of his abusive phone calls were played to Croydon Magistrates Court, in which he describes his new suspected love rival as “an ugly f***ing kid.”

He also branded the man as a “four out of ten” and said: “I am embarrassed. What an ugly f***ing kid, from f***ing Bulgaria.”

Baldwinson, of Clayton Road, Newcastle-under-Lyme was found guilty of stalking the marketing specialist - who also posts her own work-out pictures - between July 1 and August 8, last year.

The conviction puts him in breach of a sixty-day suspended prison sentence, imposed last year for breaching a non-molestation order, relating to another complainant.

After a year of dating, working-out together and holidaying in Turkey, Ms Baptiste ended the relationship. “I did not want anymore contact, but he did not agree to end things,” she told the trial from behind a screen.

“He said we could still be friends and train together, but I did not want that and blocked him. He tried to call me and I blocked the number and then he tried via social media and I blocked him again.

“At my gym, Muscleworks in Orpington he would come at the times he knew I would be there to show he was there in my life.

“I would ignore him, but he would try and talk to me and asked: ‘Can we discuss this?’ but I told him: ‘I don’t want to talk to you,’ I wanted to get on with my day.

"Scared": Baptiste

“He would pick the times I was training to see me and start a conversation. I started to go to a different gym so I would not have to see him.”

Father-of-two Baldwinson claimed Ms Baptiste knew his strict exercise and diet routine inside out and ensured she was at the gym at the same time he was.

She eventually called the police when he unexpectedly turned up at 8.00am at the bedroom window of the Hayes, Bromley home she shares with her mother and other family members.

“I was getting ready for work and heard a knocking at my bedroom window and I opened the curtain slightly and could see who it was.”

Baldwinson told the court he was expected and was only there to collect his passport, some clothing and nutritional supplements after the split.

“He was demanding answers from me and assuming I had a new partner and was saying: ‘I want answers. How could you meet someone so soon?’

“I called my mum into my room and we were both telling him to leave and that we did not want him there.”

Bodybuilder: Baldwinson

They recorded the confrontation and the magistrates viewed footage of Baldwinson leaning in his ex’s bedroom window.

“He leaned in the window and when I showed him my phone and that I had called the police he left.

“I was nervous, anxious and scared. For someone to knock on the window and lean in is quite scary.”

Further abusive phone calls were played in which Baldwinson asked: “Are you f***ing him?” He also complained: “You’re hurting me. Can you see how much you’re hurting me?”

In another he said: “You’ve been lying to everyone. I don’t want to be worrying about you or f***ing heartbroken about you. You are taking the p***.”

“He wanted to know if I was dating other people,” Ms Baptiste told the trial. “I don’t think I did anything to deserve this behaviour.”

Self-employed coach Baldwinson, who has now moved from Ridge Way, Crystal Palace to renew a former relationship with an ex-girlfriend in Newcastle-under-Lyme insisted he never stalked or harassed Ms Baptiste.

“We had a mutual passion for fitness and I introduced her to the gyms and the community,” he told the court. “She made demands and wanted quite a lot of self-improvement for me.

“She made targets for me to stay with her, targets in employment and property.”

Fit: Baptiste

Baldwinson said the relationship soured when he hesitated loaning her £2,000 for a personal trainer course.

“She said the relationship was pretty much done, but if she saw action on my part in the next six months we could be together.

“The truth had come out that she was seeing someone for a considerable time. She was keeping her options open by stringing me along.”

He denied approaching her in the gym. “I was naive emotionally and financially. I was being made a fool of because she was sleeping with a guy at the gym.”

The bodybuilder read out a text he received from Ms Baptiste, in which she agrees to sex in exchange for £500.

“Pay me and I will,” read the text. “You can make a video and you will keep things discreet, a special thing between us.

“I don’t want you to post anything because it will damage my career. we can be consensual in six months because I might get lonely sometimes.”

The home visit had been pre-arranged insisted Baldwinson. “I was there for my stuff and all she had to do was pass it through the window.”

Magistrate David Armitage announced: “He has admitted he did not take the break-up well and we consider the calls to be hostile in nature.”

The prosecution will apply for a restraining order when Baldwinson is sentenced on March 21 after a probation report is prepared and he was bailed on condition he does not contact Ms Baptiste or visit her home address.

Saracens Hooker Fined For Drunken Midnight Punch-Up

Drunk: Pifeleti

A drunken rugby star landed two blows to the jaw of a law graduate, who innocently bumped into him, when the “red mist came down,” a court heard yesterday.

Seventeen stone international Kapeli Pifeleti, 23, is described by his Premiership Rugby club Saracens as: “a hard-hitting hooker who never shies away from physicality.”

Pifeleti, of London Road, St. Albans, Hertfordshire pleaded guilty to assaulting Charlie Boyns, 26, causing him actual bodily harm at Cafe Sol, Clapham High Street, on December 2, last year.

At Croydon Magistrates’ Court the USA international was fined £500 and ordered to pay the victim £600 compensation, plus £85 court costs and a £200 victim surcharge.

Prosecutor Andreas Malekos told the court it was around midnight in the busy restaurant bar when Mr Boyns, a former grammar school First XV rugby player himself who still participates, came into contact with him.

“There was a dispute when the defendant bumped into him, which started a verbal exchange and this defendant asked: ‘What are you doing?’

“He was then hit twice in the face by this defendant and felt immediate pain and swelling.

“At one point he puts the victim into a headlock and the entire incident last around ten seconds.

“The defendant admitted the offence at the scene and said he was under the influence of alcohol at the time.

“The victim received a cut to his lip and swelling.”

Mr Boyns said in his victim impact statement: “This was my first night out with two new housemates. The guy was huge and hit me for no reason.

In Court: Pifeleti

“I was in the process of receiving two months of physiotherapy and this makes things so much worse.”

The court heard Pifeleti received a police caution for an offence of affray in Hertfordshire in 2021.

Pifeleti’s lawyer Mark Haslam told the court: “The defendant accepts he is at fault and took matters to a higher level and accepts that he was drunk when he struck the blows in a period of ten seconds.

“This cannot be said to be a prolonged and sustained attack. It is two blows, two strikes at the bottom end of the sentencing scale.

“He has personally written a letter of apology to the victim and his employers are aware.

“His behaviour that night was unacceptable and self-intoxication is not an excuse. The defendant accepts all of that and apologises profusely.

“He made full and frank admissions at the scene and has pleaded guilty at the first opportunity.

“There is effectively a double punishment here because this is not the end of the matter as far as his employers are concerned. They will monitor his performance as part of the penalty.

“The red mist had come down and he was flailing around in a drunken state.”

Both the Chairman of Saracens, Neil Golding and the club’s General Manager, Philip Morrow were in court supporting the player, who will remain a member of their team.

Mr Golding wrote a letter to the court, explaining Pifeleti came to the UK from Tonga on a rugby scholarship at £40,000-a year Haileybury School, aged fifteen years-old, and signed with Saracens, aged eighteen.

“He is in the First Team and is a model professional, who trains hard and is a genuinely nice man and it is inconceivable this incident would have occurred if he had not been drinking,” wrote the Chairman.

“Drinking is no excuse for his behaviour,” added Mr Golding of the £1,000 per week star. 

“He assists with our club’s charitable foundation every Monday evening for children with autism and there are sports and dancing activities.

“The club are very dissatisfied with his behaviour and he has been given a formal warning and knows that further similar conduct and behaviour will jeopardise his entire rugby career.”

The club have imposed their own community service penalty on Pifeleti, who must now devote two hours every Monday evening to the foundation for the remainder of the season.

Magistrate Steven Van Gelder announced: “There are consequences here and the club are going to impose on their player penalties in excess of what we impose.

“You pleaded guilty on the first occasion and made admissions in your police interview,” the magistrate told the grey-suited Pifeleti.

“There are aggravating factors here. You were intoxicated, highly intoxicated and you started this and it must have been a very distressing incident for everybody in that busy night time bar. 

“We know you have written a letter of apology to the person you attacked that night and have been doing well in the community.

“We know you are supported by your rugby club and you have been given a formal warning as to your further behaviour.

“You will almost certainly be in serious trouble with your rugby career if there is another serious incident.”

'What A Liberty': St. Pancras Passenger Molested By Mystery Male

Police are hunting this suspected groper, believed to have molested another male in the middle of busy St. Pancras station.

British Transport Police (BTP) have released the image and are requesting members of the public to assist in identifying the man.

On December 9, last year the victim was walking past Holland and Barret in the station at approximately 8.30pm.

An unknown male reached out and sexually assaulted him.

He then left the area and made his way towards the Thameslink ticket barriers.

The man in the image is wearing a distinctive 'Statue of Liberty' puffa jacket and Christmas-themed jumper.

Anyone who knows him is asked to contact BTP by texting 61016, or by calling 0800 40 50 40. 

In both cases quote reference number 611 of 09/12/22.

Alternatively, call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.