THE BALLERINA AND THE CHARITY WORKER
A serial flasher who performed a sex act on a train over a sleeping passenger has been jailed for 18 months today.
Charity worker Murray Hatcher, 35, was caught by DNA he left on a ballet dancer’s hair and clothing on an early morning train from Brixton to Penge East, Southwark Crown Court heard.
The pervert was previously convicted in November 2007 for performing a sex act on himself in a churchyard green for two hours in Stratford Broadway.
On March 29 this year, his latest victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, woke up on the train to find warm semen in her hair.
Prosecutor Max Hardy said: ‘She had been awake for over 24 hours and at a party the night before.
‘Entering the train she fell asleep. She became aware of a physical presence with her physical personal space.
‘When becoming aware of the physical presence she did then wake, didn’t immediately see anyone but seemed to sense someone behind her.
‘As she awoke she noticed a viscous fluid on her clothing and couldn’t initially work out what had happened to her.’
The dancer got up to get off the train at Penge East and noticed Hatcher sitting directly behind her chair.
‘She said she looked the man in the eyes but he looked straight ahead and not at her’, the prosecution added.
It was only when walking down the platform she noticed more of the sticky substance in her hair and over her handbag.
Mr Hardy told the court: ‘As she got off the train and making her way to the exit she noticed a substance in her hair near her left ear.
‘She realised it was the same fluid she had earlier noticed on her handbag and it was also on her coat and the left lapel on her shoulder.
‘She believed the substance to be semen and noticed it was warm.’
The traumatised woman then called the police who bagged her clothing and swabbed her hair as evidence.
The sexual exhibitionist was then arrested on May 15 after his DNA was matched to the semen and he pleaded guilty to the offence.
In a victim impact statement read out in court the woman said: ‘I was completely shocked and disgusted by what had happened.
‘I was angry and appalled.’
Judge Stephen Robbins said: ‘Imagine how traumatising it must be to have woken up and to discover she had this man’s warm semen in her hair.
Both your own barrister and I have been in the courts on and off for many years and I have never come across an offence like this.
‘It was a sickening and vile offence. I have no doubt that you, as in this case, are capable of causing members of the public serious psychological harm.’
‘Perhaps what she says in her statement is a bit of an understatement. I have little doubt this will be etched in her memory if not a nightmare for her for the rest of her life.’
Hatcher breached the conditions of his eight-month sentence, suspended for two years, handed to him in November 2007.
The serial flasher openly performed a sex act on himself in front of a mother and her 16-year-old daughter in Stratford Broadway in September 2006.
Hatcher of Station Road, Penge,had been caught exposing himself on four separate occasions since 1999, including an incident in Vauxhall Park, Lambeth, in September 2000, when he flashed to a young woman.
