Tommi Harwood, now 18, was sentenced to five years after a jury at Snaresbrook Crown Court convicted him of raping a girl he arranged to meet through Snapchat.
Tommi Harwood, 18, of Stanford-le-Hope, Essex, has been jailed for five years for raping a 16-year-old girl in the toilets at Romford station in east London. He was 16 himself at the time of the attack on 5 September 2024. A jury at Snaresbrook Crown Court found him guilty after a five-day trial. British Transport Police (BTP) said CCTV footage showed him smiling at a camera on the platform shortly before the victim arrived. He was sentenced on Friday 9 October, and BTP announced the outcome on Monday.
How the attack unfolded
The court heard that Harwood had been messaging the girl on Snapchat, telling her his name was “Bobby”. When she said she was on a train, he asked to meet at Romford station. She arrived shortly after 8pm and he met her on the platform.
In footage released by police, Harwood is seen on the platform in a black jacket and trousers, smiling at a camera. After the girl arrived, he took her into a waiting room and repeatedly asked her to check whether anyone was in the women’s toilets. When she went in, he followed and raped her. As they returned to the platform, he reportedly told her: “if we see police, run across the tracks.”
The investigation
The girl reported what had happened to BTP, and its Major, Serious and Organised Crime team took on the inquiry. She met detectives on 6 September 2024, the day after the attack. A search for Harwood began, but he was not found until 25 October, when officers spotted him at Basildon station. Railway staff had stopped him for travelling without a valid ticket, and he was arrested and taken into custody for interview.
Forensic evidence, CCTV footage and the girl’s testimony led the Crown Prosecution Service to authorise a charge of rape.
Sentence and orders
As well as the five-year prison term, Harwood was given an indefinite restraining order and an eight-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
BTP Detective Constable Ross McAlpine said: “The young victim has shown tremendous courage, not only by speaking up and reporting what happened to her, but by supporting our enquiries and the court proceedings that followed.”
He added: “She has been supported throughout our investigation by specialist officers, and I hope the fact her attacker is now behind bars brings her some sense of justice.”
DC McAlpine described the attack as “premeditated and frankly abhorrent”, and said Harwood “poses a very real threat to women and girls”.
He said tackling sexual offending was a top priority for BTP and urged anyone who experiences or witnesses it to report it by texting 61016, or by calling 999 in an emergency. “Just as we have in this case, we’ll stop at nothing to put dangerous sex offenders before the courts,” he said.
