A ‘calculated predator’ sexually assaulted sleeping women on London Underground – but has now been caught after committing another crime.

Salman Yousaf, 46, was already in prison in 2024 when the Metropolitan Police tipped off British Transport Police (BTP) about his identity and method of offending.

BTP then went back through records of crimes where no suspect had been identified and discovered he had committed a series of sexual assaults between 2017 and 2021. He admitted eight counts of sexual assault and one of outraging public decency, and was jailed at Inner London Crown Court on May 20, where he was also told he will spend an additional four years on licence after release. Yousaf was also placed on the sexual offenders register for life and placed under a sexual harm prevention order.

BTP said investigators had not managed to identify him earlier because of a lack of on-train CCTV footage and the fact he had not swiped in or out at ticket barriers when several of the offences were committed.

His first crime was around 5am on March 11, 2017, when he masturbated in front of a woman on a Central Line service near Stratford.

Yousaf went on to sexually assault eight women on Central and Jubilee line services, singling out those who were on their own and had fallen asleep on night Tubes.

Yousaf was serving a prison term after targeting another woman who had fallen asleep on the Tube, leading her away from the station and sexually assaulting her in a road near West Ham station.

He was jailed for seven and a half years after a trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court for sexual assault and sexual assault by penetration.

Met detectives tracked CCTV from the night of the attack, piecing together Yousaf’s movements and discovering he frequently used Forest Gate station.

They spoke to staff there and identified him, leading to his arrest.