Police catch sex attacker by using his Oyster card to track him down
A man has been jailed for a horrific sex attack on a teenager after police used his Oyster card to track him down.
Andrii Melnyk, a 30-year-old who lives in Chiswick, London, was found guilty of the assault on an 18-year-old woman in Staines, Surrey in April.
He was sentenced to four-and-a-half years at Reading Crown Court on Thursday for sexual assault by penetration and sexual assault by touching. Melnyk will now be on the sexual offenders register for life.
One part of the police investigation into Melnyk involved tracing his movements on CCTV and checking them against an Oyster card he used on a bus. The assault at around 6am on April 4 saw Melnyk follow the victim after they got off the same bus, before grabbing her by the arm and attempting to pull her trousers down. The victim then fell over and Melynk went on top of her, subjecting her to a sexual assault.
The victim, who was only 18 at the time, managed to fight him off and shout for help before speaking to a nearby taxi driver, who rang the police. Melynk then fled the scene.
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Melynk was identified as the perpetrator after officers trawled through the CCTV footage from the bus and matched him to the suspect description. The oyster card used on the bus was cross-referenced with the footage by officers, and Melynk was successfully identified as the user.
Police officers found clothing in a search of his home matching the ones worn in the CCTV, as well as a pair of distinctive jeans with mud stains on the knees. He was then picked out as the perpetrator in an ID parade by the victim, before being charged with the offences and remanded in custody.
Surrey Police Investigating Officer, DC Katherine Peters, said: “This was a complex investigation that involved many different lines of enquiries including forensics, intel, witness testimonies and CCTV. The survivor was extremely brave and displayed enormous resilience throughout the investigation and court proceedings. Thanks to her, a dangerous man is now off the streets and in prison where he belongs. If you have been the victim of sexual assault, we would urge you to report it to us; we will listen to you and will do everything we can to find and bring the perpetrator to justice.”
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