Locations
Probation hostel in Walworth
Description
A sex offender who attacked six lone women has been given a life sentence.
Joshua Victorin, 25, who approached his victims from behind, carried out four of the attacks within four hours.
The offences between 23 December and 4 January happened days after his release from prison, where he had been serving a sentence for three sex attacks and other crimes.
At Inner London Crown Court, he was told he must spend at least eight years and eight months in jail.
Victorin pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted rape and four charges of sexual assault.
'Most people's nightmare'
Victorin, who was living in a probation hostel in Walworth, disguised himself in dark clothing, a hooded top and a face mask to carry out the attacks across south London.
At an earlier hearing, prosecutor Claire Harden-Frost said: "These offences can be seen as part of a campaign to rape and sexually assault women walking alone in the streets of London.
"This, frankly is most people's nightmare in this situation."
Victorin first struck on the evening of 23 December, when he followed a woman as she got off a bus in Peckham.
He pulled down her jogging bottoms, causing her to fall to the floor, before fleeing when the woman's screams alerted a passer-by.
'Hyperventilating'
On New Year's Eve, he tried to rape a second woman in Elephant and Castle, pulling down her trousers and dragging her by her ankles to the doorway of a London South Bank University building, but was disturbed by a security guard who heard her "hysterical" screams.
On 4 January, Victorin carried out four similar sexual assaults on separate women, between 11:00 and 14:15 GMT.
One victim described how he was "panting" as he grabbed her hips, while another was said to be so distressed she was "hyperventilating" when he groped her thighs.
Victorin was identified after detectives theorised the attacker might be on some kind of curfew because of the timing of the offences and tracked him down to his hostel.
He has seven previous convictions for 14 offences dating back to 2014.
While serving a sentence for unlawful wounding and possession of an offensive weapon, he sexually assaulted two prison guards and was jailed for a year, having also sexually assaulted a female police officer in March last year.
He was released halfway through his sentence in August, but recalled to prison after being charged with possession of cannabis and outraging public decency - by having consensual sex in a park in front of people, including children - and was then freed under licence in December.
Stephen Akinsanya, defending, said his client's "indication of remorse is genuine".
Describing Victorin as a "prolific offender", Metropolitan Police Det Sgt Chloe Angris said: "It is possible that there might be other women who were assaulted by him, and I would urge them to contact us."