Woman took photo of teenager who groped her at bus station… but police probe was shelved through lack of evidence 

• A woman, 25, photographed a man, 19, after he groped her at a Derby bus stop
• She informed a nearby security guard who told her to ‘stop being childish’
• Daniel Oakes, Derby, pleaded guilty to sexual assault and was jailed for 26 weeks

A woman who took a picture of a teenager who groped her at a bus station was staggered to be told by police that the case would be shelved – due to a lack of evidence.

The force reopened the investigation only after the 25-year-old victim passed on her photographs of the tagged groper to her local newspaper.

When a journalist contacted Derbyshire Police, officers issued a public appeal and within days, Daniel Oakes had been arrested.

The 19-year-old is now behind bars after he pleaded guilty to a charge of sexual assault and was jailed for 26 weeks.

Daniel Oakes, 19, was sentenced to six months in prison for a sexual assault of a woman in Derby bus station on September 22

Oakes tried to hide his face as the woman took photos of him – which ended up being vital for the case

The victim said: ‘I felt he would have been easily traceable with the tag on his ankle.

‘I’m happy he’s now been convicted, but it shouldn’t have taken third-party intervention to have got to this point.’

The victim said that she had been left feeling ‘isolated and alone’ as a result of the response from police and a security guard at Derby bus station, who had threatened to remove her when she reported the sex assault.

She was told to ‘stop being childish’ and get on her bus.

The victim said: ‘I experienced a significant lack of help and support from not only the police, but the security staff at the bus station, who dealt with the matter very poorly.’ She added: ‘I was treated like the crazy one. I needed help and none was given.’

Oakes was sentenced on October 6 at Chesterfield Magistrates’ Court over the incident. Oakes must also sign on to the sex offender register for the next seven years.

The woman informed a nearby security guard that she had been groped, she was told to ‘stop being childish’ and get on her bus

The victim told Derbyshire Live he had approached her wearing an ankle tag – meaning that he was a recent offender – as she sat on a bench waiting for a bus in broad daylight. Within seconds the teenager had assaulted her.

She immediately went to report the incident but was given short shrift by security, so she went back and confronted her assailant – and ended up scuffling with Oakes.

‘That’s when security came over and threatened to remove me from the building for being aggressive,’ she said. It is not clear whether Oakes was wearing a curfew tag, which checks if an offender is where they’re meant to be at certain hours of the day, or a location tag, which monitor an offender’s location 24/7.

Derbyshire Police initially claimed that a ‘full and proportionate’ investigation had taken place, but that ‘no offender was able to be identified’ – causing the case to be ‘filed’.

However, police later said that although it had been earmarked for filing, it first needed a sergeant to review whether ‘the images were of good enough quality for an identification to be made’. Once that was done, a public appeal was launched and Oakes was arrested.

Police added: ‘We are sorry that the service this victim received did not meet the level that she, or we, would expect.’

Derby City Council, which looks after the bus station, said: ‘We are aware of the incident.’

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