A sex offender who assaulted an 11-year-old girl while she watched an entertainment show in the world famous Hamleys toy store has been jailed.
Neil Cuthbertson struck at the Regent Street store on November 8 2015 while the victim watched a magic show with her family.
At court he pleaded guilty to serious sexual assault on a female under the age of 13 and was jailed for five-and-a-half years.
The incident happened at around 4pm to 4.30pm when the victim and her family stopped to watch a magic show demonstration at the London store.
Cuthbertson, 51, fled the store afterwards.
A few months later, police issued a CCTV image of a man they wanted to speak to in relation to the offence.
Cuthbertson was subsequently arrested and charged on December 19 2016 and admitted to sexual touching and breach of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order on January 30 this year.
After he was sentenced at the Old Bailey on Friday (February 17) DC Brian Simmonds of the Metropolitan Police Sexual Offences, Exploitation and Child Abuse Team said: “I can only pay tribute to the victim and her family in this case, whose bravery in seeing this through led Cuthbertson to plead guilty.
“Incidents like this in public spaces are relatively rare, and the Met Police are committed to robustly prosecuting offenders such as Cuthbertson and safeguarding the public.”
An NSPCC spokesman said: “Cuthbertson’s brazen attack on a young girl in a public place is horrifying but, thankfully, attacks of this kind are rare.
“By admitting his actions he has spared his victim the ordeal of relieving what happened to her in a court room and we hope she has received all available support.
“It’s worrying that Cuthbertson breached a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and it’s now important that he receives treatment as part of his sentence to lessen the risk he poses to children in the future.”
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