Weeks after his arrival in Britain, Hasan Alkhabbaz groped six women as they made their way through a central London underpass

A Syrian refugee who carried out a series of sex attacks a month after he and his family were given special ‘fast track’ asylum has been jailed for 16 months.

Weeks after his arrival in Britain, Hasan Alkhabbaz groped six women as they made their way through the Joe Strummer Subway in Paddington, central London.

The 22-year-old lurked in the underpass before pouncing on his terrified victims between 14 November last year and 3 March.

He admitted six charges of sexual assault at Southwark Crown Court last month and was today jailed for 16 months.

The court heard that he got a sexual thrill of seeing the horror in the faces of his victims as he attacked them.

Alkhabbaz and his relatives were all allowed to settle in the UK after claiming they had suffered terrible ordeals in the Middle East.

Alkhabbaz insisted he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder when he saw his sister die in a bomb attack.

But psychiatrists who examined Alkhabbaz found there was nothing wrong with him.

Alkhabbaz was handed a suspended sentence in May this year for a similar offence committed on 5 March while investigations into the earlier spree were ongoing.

He was arrested at Heathrow Airport on 8 September trying to board a flight to Egypt and on to Sudan.

Alkhabbaz had a Syrian passport issued just six days after his travel ban.

Sentencing him today, Judge Jeffery Pegden QC said: ‘During the four months that you committed these six offences, you demonstrated predatory behaviour by continually targeting lone, vulnerable women and sexually assaulting them in underpasses in London.

‘These offences formed a pattern of offending and were committed when the women were alone and isolated.

‘They were committed in broad daylight and must have required a degree of planning, as you loitered in the vicinity of the underpasses waiting for a victim.

‘Moreover, there was an escalation in the aggression that you used in grabbing the women’s bottoms or putting your hand underneath their clothing, between their legs and in their groin area, and grabbing their crotches.

‘The offences were clearly sexually motivated and I have no doubt you received sexual gratification from the women’s reactions before you ran away.’

Daniel Pawson-Pounds, prosecuting, said Alkhabbaz carried out the first attack on 14 November at 11.05am.

The 22-year-old lurked in the Joe Strummer Subway in Paddington, central London, before pouncing on his terrified victims between 14 November last year and 3 March (stock photo)

He told the court: ‘A woman entered the subway, she had just left her boyfriend’s home address.

‘As she walks under she became aware a man walking towards her that man was the defendant. They passed each other but she became aware he had turned around and began to follow her.

‘Despite her suspicions she continued to walk through the underpass, as she began to climb the stairs to exit, the defendant approached her from behind and grabbed her bottom.

‘She screamed and turned to confront the defendant and he then ran back into the underpass towards a different exit.’

The victim said she ‘specifically doesn’t use the subway anymore because she feels it’s unsafe’ and is now anxious in public spaces.

Mr Pawson-Pounds said the pervert struck again four days later at 11.50am, again in the Joe Strummer subway.

He said: ‘The defendant walks towards her, passed her, turned around then begins to follow her.

‘Again, the victim was approached from behind this time the defendant placed his hands between her legs from behind touching her crotch with an open palm.’

That victim said in a statement she feels very ‘jumpy’ and avoids public places.

She was on her way to a job interview at the time and says not being able to attend has negatively affected her career progression.

Mr Pawson-Pounds added: ‘The defendant was stopped by police in the Joe Strummer subway on 22 November.

‘His behaviour was such it attracted police officers attending. He said he did not speak English and could not provide an explanation for his presence there.’

But on January 24 at 4.15pm he struck again underneath the A40 near Marylebone Road, grabbing a woman’s bottom and groin area.

He was at the Joe Strummer Subway on February 28 at 7.10pm, when he slid his woman under a woman’s skirt and groped her.

That victim said she still feels anxious and worries about being assaulted again.

Alkhabbaz groped his fifth victim just after 10am on March 1.

She said the assault ‘completely demeaned her in every way’, and she has struggled to complete university work.

The sixth attack happened just two days later at 7.15am.

‘The victim became aware of the defendant in the Joe Strummer Subway behind her,’ said the prosecutor.

‘She felt the defendant’s hand push up her coat move in between her legs from behind and touch her genital area with his fingers.’

The victim said she ‘felt alone and vulnerable’ after the assault and blames it for the breakdown of the relationship with her boyfriend.

Alkhabbaz was arrested on 7 March this year in connection with the assaults.

‘Mr Alkhabbaz and his family arrived in the UK in October last year fleeing the conflict in Syria,’ said his barrister Kenneth Newman.

‘They were fast-tracked into the UK.

‘Mr Alkhabbaz lost a sister in Syria due to bombing and I am told by Mr Alkhabbaz’s father they were under siege for a number of months.’

Mr Newman said Alkhabbaz suffered from PTSD after fleeing war torn Syria for the UK under the United Nations Refugee Programme.

He said: ‘He is the youngest of five children. He has a brother and sister in Egypt, one in Dubai.

'One sister who was a doctor was killed by a bomb to a building in Syria. He personally witnessed the bombing of the building in which his sister died.

‘His family were being subjected to ongoing bombing. Both Mr Alkhabbaz and his father describe to me seeing dead bodies of friends and colleagues and walking over dead bodies. Something that no-one should really have to see.’

Alkhabbaz, of Fonthill Road, Islington, north London, admitted six counts of sexual assault.

He was jailed for 16 months and made subject to a sexual harm prevention order.