A man who sexually assaulted a woman in the street in Gosport has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison.
Jamie Bicknell, aged 32, of Gregson Avenue in Gosport was found guilty of sexual assault following a trial which began on Monday 20 February at Portsmouth Crown Court.
The court heard that on 2 February 2021, Bicknell entered a restaurant on Stoke Road at around 9.50pm and ordered some food, before being asked to leave due to his drunken behaviour. At some stage whilst outside the restaurant, he blocked the path of a woman, aged in her thirties, with his arm and began talking to her. Bicknell began making inappropriate comments towards the woman before asking her for sex.
Portsmouth Crown Court heard that the woman refused and tried to get past Bicknell, before he grabbed her by the throat and continued talking to her. He then grabbed her hair before sexually assaulting her. After the assault, Bicknell sat at a bus stop and ate some food.
CCTV enquiries determined that he had travelled from Gregson Avenue by bus to Gosport town centre before walking to Stoke Road where the sexual assault took place. Further enquiries with the bus company determined that Bicknell had struck up a conversation with the bus driver, to whom he had disclosed his first name and talked about some mutual friends they had. These enquiries assisted police in identifying and tracking down Bicknell, resulting in his arrest.
He denied the sexual assault, and the case went to trial on 14 March 2022, however the jury were unable to reach a verdict. Following a re-trial which started at Portsmouth Crown Court on Monday 20 February 2023, the jury unanimously found Bicknell guilty of the sexual assault on Thursday 23 February.
Appearing at the same court on Wednesday 29 March for sentencing, Bicknell was sent to prison for two and a half years, along with an indefinite restraining order and notification requirement.
Following the sentencing, Police Staff Investigator Sophie Close said: “Reporting sexual offences takes a huge amount of courage, and the victim in this case has shown such bravery by coming forward and working with police to bring Bicknell to justice.
“This attack was understandably terrifying for her. Bicknell’s actions were appalling and disgusting, and behaviour of this kind will never be tolerated.
“Our officers work hard to identify perpetrators of this type of behaviour, and we want to encourage anyone who has been affected, or ever witnesses someone behaving in this way to please report it to police.”
We carry out regular patrols in areas where problems have been identified to us and where there is high footfall in the Night Time Economy (NTE) to challenge and prevent perpetrator behaviours, identify people who may be vulnerable, and to offer safeguarding advice.
Not everyone who has been affected by sexual abuse has the confidence to report to police. There are support services out there that can offer help to you, completely independent of the police, should you need support. For more information on where to seek support, or how to make a report to police, please visit our website: https://www.hampshire.police.uk/advice/advice-and-information/rsa/rape-and-sexual-assault/
We would also encourage our communities to make use of the Home Office StreetSafe tool, which was launched in September 2021. StreetSafe is not a tool to report crime, but instead enables people to report specific concerns or environmental factors that make them feel unsafe in their neighbourhood. This could be poor street lighting, abandoned buildings, or areas where certain individuals have behaved in a way to make you feel intimidated, for example.
To access StreetSafe, visit: https://www.hampshire.police.uk/notices/street-safe/street-safe/street-safe/?tid=566021&lid=&cid=&rid=558&stepid=1
– Hampshire Alert –