Few things are as ordinary as boarding a train. You find a seat, glance out the window, and let the rhythm of the tracks carry you toward home, work, or a loved one. But for a number of women travelling on services connected to London, Southampton, Bournemouth, and Manchester last December, an ordinary journey became a harrowing ordeal they will not quickly forget. The man at the centre of that ordeal is Roman Scott, a 35-year-old whose behaviour over a single 13-hour period was so persistent, so brazen, and so degrading that a judge ultimately imposed a punishment with a rare and striking condition: Scott is now banned from sitting next to, or directly opposite, any woman he does not know. That ban will last for a decade, and it will sit alongside a six-month prison sentence and a place on the sex offenders register. The unusual restriction speaks to the depth of the problem. This was not a momentary lapse, not a misunderstood gesture, and not a drunken mistake. It was a calculated, repeated pattern of sexual offending spread across more than 100 miles of railway, targeting women who simply wanted to get where they were going.
The chronology of Scott’s offending is staggering in its relentlessness. It began shortly after 11pm on December 14, when he boarded a train at London Victoria. He sat down next to a group of women and immediately began masturbating in full view of them. The women did what so many people do in such situations: they did not remain silent; they acted. Other passengers intervened and managed to get him removed from the service. But that was only the beginning. The next morning, Scott resurfaced in Southampton and boarded a train to Bournemouth, where he repeated the same appalling behaviour. His day grew even darker when, hours later, he barged into the women’s toilets at Bournemouth station and exposed himself to a woman inside. On another train, this one headed toward Manchester, he sat near a young woman and deliberately positioned himself in a way that blocked her in, making it difficult for her to move away. Then he began masturbating again. When that woman, along with other passengers, reported what was happening to the guard, Scott did not stop. He simply moved on to another woman, exposed himself once more, and made sexually explicit comments toward her. When she tried to escape, he followed her down the aisle and blocked her path. She was forced to physically push past him in order to get away. It was only after this sequence of abuse that Scott sat down and passed out. Rail staff recognised him as the same man who had earlier entered the women’s toilets in Bournemouth, and British Transport Police were called.
When officers arrested Scott, he tried to explain away his behaviour as the unfortunate product of intoxication. Alcohol, he claimed, “just gets the better of me sometimes.” It was a defence that treated his actions as if they were accidental, as if the women he targeted had merely been in the wrong place at the wrong time. The court was not persuaded. At Salisbury Crown Court, Scott was found guilty of five counts of exposure and sentenced to six months in prison. The judge also imposed a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order, a legal mechanism designed to place strict controls on the behaviour of convicted sex offenders. Under the terms of that order, Scott is forbidden from sitting next to or opposite unknown women, a condition that will shape nearly every future journey he takes by public transport. He will also be required to sign the sex offenders register for the same period, meaning that police will monitor his movements and activities for a decade after his release. These measures send an unambiguous message: the courts recognise that this behaviour is not trivial, not a nuisance, and not a mere breach of social etiquette. It is a serious sexual offence that causes real fear, distress, and lasting harm.
Detective Constable Ewen Roberts of British Transport Police did not mince words when responding to the case. He described Scott’s conduct as “appalling” and “disgusting,” and highlighted the speed with which Scott moved from one victim to another, repeatedly subjecting women to horrific ordeals for his own sexual gratification. Roberts was also keen to reassure the public that the railway network is not a lawless space. He stressed that sexual offending on trains is taken extremely seriously, and that no report is too small or too trivial for police attention. This matters, because so many women who experience public sexual harassment and exposure wonder whether speaking up will change anything. They worry they will not be believed, or that their experience will be dismissed as something that happens on trains and must simply be endured. The arrest, prosecution, and conviction of Scott demonstrates that this does not have to be the case. It also highlights the value of the witnesses who stepped forward — the passengers who intervened, the guard who paid attention, and the women who spoke up in the immediate aftermath of their abuse. Their actions helped ensure that Scott could not simply stagger off into the morning and repeat the cycle elsewhere.
But while this case ended with accountability, it is impossible to ignore the wider context in which it took place. Scott’s offending is part of a much larger and deeply troubling pattern of violence and harassment against women and girls in this country. It is a pattern that unfolds every day on streets, in parks, in workplaces, in homes, and, yes, on public transport. It is so widespread that it is often described as an epidemic, and in November 2024, Metro launched a campaign called This Is Not Right to confront it directly. In partnership with Women’s Aid, the campaign aims to shine a light on the sheer scale of this national emergency and to provide a platform for women to share their experiences. The name of the campaign matters, because too often, incidents like the ones Scott committed are normalised. They are passed off as the behaviour of a drunk man, or as something that women should anticipate and plan around. This Is Not Right challenges that assumption. It insists that every woman deserves to travel without being targeted, to ride a train without being groped, exposed to, or followed, and to move through public spaces with the same freedom and safety that men often take for granted.
The lasting meaning of Roman Scott’s case is not simply that he was caught and punished. It is that his behaviour was allowed to be seen for what it was: a deliberate, sexualised campaign of intimidation and humiliation. The women he encountered did nothing to invite it. They were not asking for attention, not dressed in a way that justified it, and not obligated to accept it. They were travelling. That is all. And the fact that their journeys were violently interrupted, and that one woman had to push her way past a man who was blocking her escape, is a reminder of how quickly everyday life can turn threatening. The six-month prison sentence may feel too brief to many. The 10-year order and registration will offer some protection, but they cannot undo the fear and trauma inflicted. What they can do, however, is stand as proof that the criminal justice system is capable of taking women’s suffering seriously. And perhaps, in the months and years ahead, that proof will encourage more women to come forward. For anyone who has experienced sexual offending on the railway, British Transport Police can be contacted discreetly by texting 61016. The message is simple: you will be heard, you will be supported, and those who harm you will be brought to account. Roman Scott may now spend his days with restrictions he never imagined, but for the women he terrorised, the real hope is that future journeys will carry no fear at all.
