A man who targeted “vulnerable” teenage girls using Twitter and Blackberry Messenger was jailed today for attempted rape and sexual assault.

Adil Hoque, 20, of Sheringham Avenue in Manor Park, was sentenced to eight years in a young offenders institute for the crimes, serving an 18-month sexual assault sentence concurrently, after being found guilty of the crimes in trials last October and March 2013.

Hoque used Twitter to talk to a 17-year-old girl whom he then offered to drive to college on May 11, 2011.

He parked his car close to Empress Road in Chingford, where he sexually assaulted her before she managed to escape when Hoque was disturbed by a passer-by.

She reported the attack later that day, but later in the year he struck again.

This time he began talking with a 14-year-old girl via Blackberry Messenger and met her on Romford Road in Manor Park, after phoning the school pretending to be her uncle.
Hoque then took her home and tried to rape her.

The girl reported the attack on January 19, 2012.

Charges were eventually brought against Hoque in November 2011 for the first attack, and in February 2012 for the second, and he stood trial at the Inner London Crown Court in September and October last year.

He was found guilty of attempted rape and acquitted of rape, but the jury could not agree on a verdict for the sexual assault charge and so was dismissed.

A retrial for the sexual assault charge took place in March, when he was found guilty.

Detective Inspector Simon Ellershaw, of Sapphire, the police unit tackling rape and sexual assault, said: "This conviction has resulted in a man being sent to prison who was clearly a danger to young women - a man who obviously felt that it was his right to have sex with girls simply because they had agreed to meet with him.

“He deliberately targeted vulnerable girls. It also highlights the dangers of meeting people you don't know having had contact with them only via social media - in this case Blackberry Messenger.
“It may well be that other girls have been put in a similar situation by this man and if this is the case they should contact their local police."