Man arrested after string of sexual attacks in south London

Metropolitan Police confirmed a 34-year-old man had been arrested and remains in police custody

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A 34-year-old man from Lambeth has been arrested following a string of eight sexual attacks on women in South London, the Metropolitan police confirmed on Friday.

The man was arrested on Thursday night and remains in custody in a south London police station.

Officers have urged women in the area to remain vigilant, and appealed for witnesses.

“We are aware of eight assaults which we are linking at this early stage. We have increased police patrols in Clapham and Brixton Hill and urge women to think of their personal safety,” Superintendent Rob Applegarth of Lambeth Borough, said in a statement.

Officers are aware of eight incidents in and around the Brixton and Clapham areas in south London when women, all of whom are white and aged between 20 and 30 years old, were targeted as they walked alone.

In the first reported incident on 9 October, a 23-year-old woman was grabbed and sexually assaulted along Clitheroe Road, Clapham. She raised the alarm and the man ran off.

The second assault took place at 1.15am the following day. A 30-year-old woman was grabbed and assaulted after a man approached her and tried to engage her in conversation. On 22 October, a third woman, 32, was assaulted at around 9pm in Clapham.

Three of the assaults took place on 26 October within three a three-hour window in Clapham.

At around 7pm a fourth woman, 35, was grabbed from behind as she walked home in Clapham. The fifth woman was assaulted as she attempted to enter her own home, just an hour after the fourth attack. CCTV footage captured a man approaching the 26-year-old from behind, assaulting her, and then fleeing before she was able to raise the alarm.

At around 9pm the same evening, a 28-year-old woman called the police after a man exposed himself outside her home in Clapham.

Two days later, two further incidents were reported to the Met. In one a 28-year-old woman screamed and fled after she was grabbed by a man at around 7.20pm. Later that evening a woman, 31, was sexually assaulted after being pulled into a block of flats in Brixton.

Anyone who has any information or witnesses should to call the MPS on the police non-emergency line on 101. In the event of an emergency call 999.