Pervert prisoner from Leeds groped officer while being held on remand for flashing

Maysam Rajabi grabbed the woman’s breast before she reacted and backed away from him, Leeds Crown Court heard. He was being held on remand at the time for an incident in which he indecently exposed himself.

Prosecutor Nick Adlington said the 34-year-old Iranian attacked the officer on the afternoon of June 14 last year. When she reached his cell, she looked through the hatch was up and saw he was close to the door, so told him to stand against the back wall.

He did so, but when she opened the cell door he moved forward again and lunged at her, grabbing her. Quickly retreating, she called for assistance.

Mr Adlington said: “It was clearly sexually motivated and she did not give consent. It must have been blindingly obvious to the defendant that she would not consent to such behaviour.”

The officer was left in shock and Rajabi was taken to the segregation unit. He later refused to be interviewed.

The court heard that Rajabi, who has no fixed address but previously resided at North Farm Road in Gipton, was given six months’ jail in 2021 for indecent exposure. He was also given a restraining order which he broke twice, including the same day it was imposed. He received eight weeks’ jail in September last year as a result.

He initially denied sexually assaulting the prison officer, but changed his plea to guilty on the first day of trial.

Mitigating, Aqsa Hussain said Rajabi came to the UK from Iran in 2017 on his own. She added: “Given his antecedence and nature of the offending, he knows it will be jail. While relatively undiagnosed, he has been hospitalised several times for various psychotic episodes.

"He says he was sick at the time of the offending, and he can’t remember how or why it happened.”

Judge Robin Mairs said Rajabi had committed the offence for “sexual gratification” which he said was the “only conclusion” he could draw given his repeated sexual behaviour. He jailed him for 13 months, meaning he will likely be released given the time he has already served on remand. He was also put on the sex offender register for 10 years.