"Salman Yousaf is a calculated predator"
A serial sex offender who targeted women asleep on London’s Night Tube services has been jailed after investigators linked him to a string of unsolved attacks spanning four years.
Salman Yousaf admitted to eight counts of sexual assault and one count of outraging public decency after British Transport Police reopened historic cases between 2017 and 2021.
He was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison at Inner London Crown Court on May 20. He will also spend an additional four years on licence after release.
Yousaf was already serving a separate prison sentence in 2024 when the Metropolitan Police shared intelligence with British Transport Police.
Detectives then matched his offending pattern to a series of previously unsolved cases across the London Underground network.
Investigators said he deliberately targeted women travelling alone on late-night Central and Jubilee line services, often assaulting them while they were asleep.
His first known offence took place at about 5 am on March 11, 2017, when he masturbated in front of a woman on a Central Line train near Stratford station.
Police later connected him to attacks on another eight women.
Linking Yousaf to Unsolved Assaults
British Transport Police said the investigation was complicated by limited CCTV coverage on trains and because Yousaf avoided swiping in or out at ticket barriers.
After receiving information from the Metropolitan Police, detectives reviewed unsolved sexual offences on the Underground and identified similarities in how the attacks were carried out.
The Crown Prosecution Service authorised nine charges against Yousaf. Although he initially denied the offences, he later changed his plea and admitted every charge before trial.
BTP Detective Constable Iryna Cuthbert said:
“Salman Yousaf is a calculated predator who deliberately exploited the night-time rail network to target lone women, using their isolation to commit a series of premeditated crimes.
“Even when confronted, he showed a complete lack of remorse – the same absence of remorse he demonstrated at his sentencing.
“Thanks to the information provided by our colleagues at the Metropolitan Police, we were able to link him to a catalogue of vile sexual offending and ultimately extend his stay behind bars beyond 2030.
“Yousaf’s crimes will have a lasting impact on the women he targeted.”
“I want to acknowledge their bravery in coming forward and reporting what happened, and I hope his sentence brings them some measure of justice.”
Previous Conviction exposed a Wider Pattern
Yousaf was identified while serving a separate seven-and-a-half-year prison sentence for another sexual attack involving a woman who had fallen asleep on the Tube.
In that case, prosecutors said he led the victim away from the station before sexually assaulting her near West Ham station.
He was convicted at Snaresbrook Crown Court of sexual assault and sexual assault by penetration.
Metropolitan Police detectives tracked CCTV footage from the night of the attack and mapped Yousaf’s movements through the transport network.
Officers discovered he regularly used Forest Gate station and later identified him with the help of station staff, leading to his arrest.
As part of his latest sentence, Yousaf was placed on the sex offenders register for life and made subject to a sexual harm prevention order.
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