‘Smiling’ intercourse predator who lurked in underpass to assault ladies and ladies as younger as 13 in broad daylight is jailed
A serial sex predator, who was seen ‘smiling’ and ‘enjoying himself’ as he attacked women and girls as young as 13 has been jailed.
Robert Emmerson, 40, would lie in wait around an underpass in Manchester centre, near one of the city’s main universities, before targeting female passers-by.
He was convicted of a string of sex offences involving five victims after a trial in October – and was jailed today for four years and six months.
Alex Mann, Senior Crown Prosecutor for Crown Prosecution Service North West, said: ‘Robert Emmerson targeted women and girls as young as 13 in a secluded Manchester underpass in broad daylight.
‘He gave no thought to the impact his actions would have on the young women he attacked.
‘Today’s sentence should send a clear message that we will prosecute those who prey on women and girls to the fullest extent of the law – and I would urge anyone who has been a victim of sexual violence to come forward and report it to the police.’
Jurors at the Manchester Crown Court trial heard Emmerson’s victims ran away ‘terrified’ after he pounced on them in the underpass beneath the Mancunian Way as they walked to or back from Manchester Metropolitan University during ‘daylight hours’.
Emmerson denied all charges but a jury unanimously convicted him of five counts of sexual assault and seven counts of exposure.

Sexual predator, Robert Emmerson, 40, ‘enjoying himself’ as he attacked women and girls as young as 13 has been jailed

The predator would lie in wait around an underpass in Manchester centre, before targeting women and attacking them in a ‘bear hug’
Manchester Crown Court heard that Emmerson’s victims recalled how he was ‘smiling’ and ‘enjoying himself’ while he attacked the women in a ‘bear hug’, before pinning them to the ground and groping them.
Emmerson was identified as a suspect after police noticed a ‘pattern’ of offences between November 2023 and April last year.
Speaking of the ‘pattern’, prosecutor Emma Kehoe said victims noted ‘how the attacker would lie in wait on the path and how the attacker would masturbate or touch his genitals, or in some cases grabbing them [complainants] in a bear hug and pulling them to the floor’.
She continued: ‘In some cases he groped their vaginas through clothing.’
Ms Kehoe said multiple victims described the male as ‘laughing’, ‘smiling’, and ‘making noises to suggest he was enjoying himself’ as they screamed while he ‘pinned them down’ or ‘lifted them up’ and touched them sexually. All the victims were able to run away and report the incident to the police.
Emmerson was tracked down by police after the ‘quick reports’ of two alleged assaults on April 15, 2024. Officers were able to use CCTV to trace Emmerson’s movements, and he was arrested on April 22 at his ex-partner’s house in Wythenshawe.
Five victims positively identified Emmerson, of Levenshulme, Manchester, from an ID parade.
Mr Mann said following the trial: ‘His depraved actions were carried out solely for his own sexual gratification and have had a severe impact on those he attacked.
As well as being jailed, Emmerson was also made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for life.

Alongside a prison sentence, Emmerson was also made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for life
Emerson was previously given a suspended prison sentence in 2015 for stalking four schoolgirls aged 14 and 15.
He terrorised victims by hiding in bushes and alleyways so he could stare at the youngsters on their way to and from school in Baguley, south Manchester
Victims lived in fear of Robert Emmerson who also followed them, exposed himself, or fiddled with his trousers during a bizarre, seven-month long harassment campaign.
The girls told the court that from November 2012 he lay in wait along the route they took to school, staring at them as he appeared to urinate against a wall, staring at them as he followed them, and even hiding in bushes or behind trees so that he could stare at them.
Then a 30-year-old father-of-one, Emmerson was banned from a number of streets and ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register after being convicted of aggravated stalking, two charges of stalking and two charges of exposure.