Lee Navigation towpath safe again after 13 women assaulted

THE man who committed a series of attacks on women along the Lee Navigation towpath has been sentenced to jail.

The sexual predator was caught when he returned to the scene of his crime as one of his victims was showing the police where she’d been assaulted, and has been jailed, Keith Gudgin reports.

Four years in prison

Domenico Anselmo, 27, was yesterday 16th December, sentenced to four years in prison in connection with a series of sexual offences, pleading guilty to 17 offences committed between January 2017 and May 2021 on the towpath of the Lee Navigation.

He subjected a total of 13 women to physical assaults or indecent exposure and on occasions, both.

It was in May of this year, that police asked the women Anselmo had assaulted to accompany them to the location of each offence, to enable additional CCTV cameras to be installed.

Anselmo appeared riding his bike

As one of the victims was showing the police where her attack took place, Anselmo appeared at the scene of the crime, and turning round to say goodbye to the police officers she saw her attacker riding a bike towards her on the towpath, and was in shock.

Not only did she recognise her attacker but also his distinctive bike so was in no doubt it was him.

The police saw the woman was distressed and came back to her and she blurted out—"That's him!"

Immediately arrested

He was immediately arrested, and it was made easy for the police as he was wearing exactly the same clothes he had been during the attack that was then linked to CCTV images showing another of his assaults.

So the towpath of the Lee Navigation is indeed safe again for women to walk, as their perpetrator is securely locked up in jail.