R v Mohammed Al-Hassan & Anor

Facts

Mohammed Al-Hassan and Mohammed Abdullah, both Sudanese nationals who had come to the United Kingdom as asylum seekers, encountered a 15-year-old girl, referred to as G, in Leicester Square in the early hours of 12 July 2024. G was highly vulnerable: diagnosed with ADHD and autism, she had spent months as a psychiatric in-patient in 2023, had run away from home for the third time in a fortnight and had taken one or more paracetamol overdoses that night. Mr Abdullah lent her his coat as a pretext for touching her sexually and Mr Al-Hassan joined in, both touching her breasts and buttocks over her clothing. They walked her around the Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus area for about half an hour, tried to make her drink and smoke, forced a pill into her mouth and spoke of taking her to an address elsewhere in London. G eventually led them back to police officers, mouthing "help me". Both were convicted at the Crown Court at Southwark on 28 January 2025 of sexual assault contrary to section 3 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003; Mr Al-Hassan was also convicted of breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order contrary to section 354(1) of the Sentencing Act 2020. His Honour Judge Hehir sentenced them on 24 April 2025. They appealed by leave of the single judge.