Igor Lagadin 53

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A man who groped a woman at a London Underground station has been sentenced. 

Igor Lagadin, 53, of Senior Street in Paddington, pleaded guilty to sexual assault. 

The incident happened on March 24 last year after Lagadin got off a District line train at Earl’s Court station, prosecutor Edmund Blackman said. 

“He groped a young woman’s bottom as she walked up the stairs, she was perhaps young enough to be his daughter,” Mr Blackman said. 

“She followed him and challenged him. He made an apologetic gesture and said ‘I’m sorry’. He was pointed out and subsequently arrested.” 

In a statement the victim said she avoided train stations for weeks as she was scared someone would try to touch her again. 

She said: “As a woman taking public transport is always a risk to be honest. 

“This is not the first time someone touched me on public transport but it’s the first time I took action because if people like this man feel like they can touch women and get away with it, he would definitely have done it again.” 

Lagadin, who works as a porter, claimed he touched her accidentally but after watching the CCTV Judge Freya Newbury said it was clearly intentional. 

Judge Newbury said: “It’s objectifying, weird and totally inappropriate. I’m sure the defendant understands that, he may well have a mother, sister or daughter and reflect on this.” 

Lagadin was given a one-year community order including an unpaid work requirement. 

He will also be required to sign the sex offenders register for five years.