Esme Rice claims she was sexually assaulted by two men on London’s Elizabeth line and waited 13 hours for British Transport Police to call her back after reporting the alleged groping incident
A woman who reported being sexually assaulted by two men on the Tube claims police failed to respond to her call for 13 hours. Esme Rice says she was groped while getting off an Elizabeth line train at Stratford station in East London at around 11pm on June 6.
Despite messaging British Transport Police (BTP) on 61016 within two minutes of the alleged incident, the 31-year-old says officers did not contact her until midday the following day.
Esme, a marketing agency founder, says she feels “massively let down” by the sequence of events and has since shared her experience on social media to raise awareness. BTP said it takes all reports of sexual offences “extremely seriously” and that, “time and time again”, the force has brought people to justice.
Esme, from Hackney Wick, East London, said two men – who she believes to be buskers – boarded at either Liverpool Street station or Whitechapel station.
She had been out for dinner with a friend before travelling home on the Tube line, boarding at Farringdon station.
Reflecting on the assault, Esme said: “They immediately started trying to get my attention. One of them was playing music on a violin within inches of my face. I was just ignoring them.
“I was groped by two men. I was getting off the train at the time that it happened, so I had no opportunity to process this before the doors were shut and they were already gone.
“I really just wanted to get out of there and get home.”
Esme sent a message to 61016 – the dedicated text service for BTP – just two minutes after the alleged assault took place.
She claims she then “waited up for hours” for a return call from the force, but her phone remained silent.
When Esme finally received a call 13 hours post-assault, she says they requested her to give a statement that following Monday.
An hour prior, she chose to share her ordeal on social media to raise awareness.
She stated: “I was really scared. It is just harrowing and you feel so unsafe. I know that I can’t fight anyone off, I am not going to get physical with anyone.
“You just feel uneasy knowing that the safety blanket that you think is there of the officers is not there.
“It is shocking because those men stayed on that train and could have continued assaulting people.
“I texted and I knew exactly where they were at that time, and if police had come at that moment on that train they would have been caught and stopped. It just feels very disappointing.”
Esme says the response from other women who have endured similar experiences has been overwhelming since her social media post.
She expressed: “I am just angry. I just feel like this has happened to me so many times.
“I am equally saddened as I am empowered to use my voice and try to do something about it because it just feels like unless we speak up about it we don’t know what is actually being done.
“My biggest thing is the amount of people who have resonated with it. Every hour I am receiving messages, DMs, comments, of someone else sharing their story of this happening to them.”
Esme states that she doesn’t hold BTP responsible, as she believes it’s their lack of funding and resources that has led to the slow response.
An appeal is now underway for two men in connection with the reported assault.
She expressed: “I feel massively let down.
“It has been very impactful. You get sexually assaulted and then there is a second wave of realising that it is going to go nowhere. Nobody is going to come and help you.
“Me coming out and saying this is not against the BTP. They do not have the resources or structure currently to support against the amount of sexual assaults that are actually happening.”
A spokesperson for BTP stated: “Tackling sexual offending on the railway is a force priority for us, and we’re committed to protecting everyone’s right to a safe journey.
“We’re tireless in our efforts to raise public awareness of when and how to report crime, such as using our discreet text-to-report service. No report is too small or too trivial – every single sex offence reported to us is taken extremely seriously and we will always do everything in our power to bring predatory sex offenders to justice.
“The 61016 number receives over a quarter of a million texts every year – and this figure continues to rise as confidence grows among passengers in reporting historically underreported crimes, such as sexual offending.
“This isn’t misplaced confidence, as we’ve shown time and time again that we won’t stop until we’ve caught offenders, put them before the courts, and secured justice for victims.”