Man jailed for sex attack on woman runner

A SEX attacker who targeted a businesswoman as she ran on Hackney Marshes was captured by a group of footballers after they heard her screams.

Adelani Akamo, 23, had only been in Britain for 10 days when he clubbed the 33-year-old with a lump of wood and dragged her into bushes.

The Nigerian, who is here on a student visa, battered her face and head before assaulting her.
He struck as scores of Sunday League football matches being played on some of the area's 88 pitches were ending.

The players heard the victim's cries and wrestled Akamo to the ground, holding him until police arrived.

Judge Simon Freeland QC, jailing Akamo for seven years, said: "The fact is that these offences amount in aggregate terms to a chilling and terrifying attack on an innocent member of the public, going about her own business in preparation for a marathon run."

Recommending Akamo's deportation on release, the judge said: "Your continued presence in this country is to its obvious detriment. It would be contrary to the public interest for you to remain in this country."

The married victim, a successful businesswoman, said her personal life and career had been devastated by the attack.

In a statement read by prosecutor Brendan Morris, she said: "Family life has suffered and the financial strain is now taking greater effect."

Asked how her life had been affected, she replied: "The only answer I can give is, what life? I cannot live, I don't exist.

"While I still wear her clothes, live in her house and share her professional title, I am not that woman."

John Townsend, defending, said Akamo, who admitted wounding with intent and sexual assault, had not planned the attack in September last year.

But Judge Freeland described the assault as "sustained, frenzied and premeditated", telling Akamo: "You knew precisely what you were doing."