'Rapist let out on bail attacked again'

12 April 2012

A suspected rapist let out on bail struck for a second time in an almost identical sex assault on a night-bus passenger, a court heard.

Andrew Theocharous, 20, targeted two women after following them from double-deckers in the space of just over a month, jurors were told.

Blackfriars crown court heard how the first woman, aged 30, was followed onto a 144 bus by Theocharous at the end of May last year. He got off after her in Edmonton and shouted "babes".

When she said she was not interested he dragged her into Pymmes Park and told her: "You are not going anywhere," before raping her, it is alleged.

He let her go when she agreed to meet him for sex the next day, and gave him her phone number. The woman, from New Zealand, arranged to meet him near Edmonton police station - where police were waiting to arrest him.

But on July 4, while on police bail, Theocharous followed a second woman as she returned from a night out in the West End, jurors heard. The American woman got onto one bus at Charing Cross Road, and changed to a 29 bus at Warren Street. Theocharous shouted at her to get her attention after she got off near the British Library, said prosecutor Gopal Hooper.

He dragged her backwards towards a basement flat in Cartwright Gardens, it is claimed, but she escaped after a resident came to investigate noises and Theocharous fled.

Theocharous, of Tottenham, denies rape, attempted rape, sex assault, false imprisonment and intent to commit a sexual offence. The trial continues.

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