An Iranian asylum seeker, Pirouz Mofrad, 23, has been jailed for two years after being convicted of attempting to sexually assault two teenage girls at bus stops in Southampton, in separate incidents in December 2023 and February 2024. He was sentenced at Southampton Crown Court this week having been found guilty last month of two counts of attempted sexual assault, and had previously lied to police about his age. The case has drawn further scrutiny after Mofrad escaped custody during a medical appointment while awaiting sentencing, prompting a search before he was recaptured.

Mofrad grabbed a 15-year-old at a bus stop, telling her he "just wanted to touch her" and leaving marks in her fake tan; she later said she had tried to take her own life following the ordeal. In the second incident, he approached a 14-year-old and her friends, using crude language, which the victim said had "creeped them out". After his arrest, Mofrad was remanded to HMP Wandsworth under a Sexual Risk Order but was transferred to a mental health facility in Bexhill, East Sussex, over a provisional schizophrenia diagnosis, from which he was filmed on CCTV escaping on 5 November 2025 before being caught the next day. Judge Nicholas Rowland sentenced him this week to two years in prison.