Kevin Bond carried out sex attacks on girls and women in the morning rush hour in south-east London
A sex predator dubbed the Rush Hour Prowler who attacked 14 girls and young women has been jailed for six years.
Father-of-two Kevin Bond, 51, carried out a year-long campaign of assaults, molesting girls as young as eight as they walked to and from school across south-east London.
The ex-management consultant was finally caught earlier this year after police released CCTV footage of him running off after an attack.
Bond admitted 14 sex assaults – between October 2016 and November the following year – and was jailed at Woolwich Crown Court today.
Bond’s youngest victim, aged eight, was attacked in Lewisham before school in November last year.
Judge Nicholas Heathcote Williams, QC, told the pervert: ‘What you did was deeply shocking, violating, frightening, distressing and disturbing as their victim impact statements recall.
‘It also caused understandable wide-spread anxiety among parents, children travelling unaccompanied, schools and community groups. These were deplorable offences.’
The sentence means Bond will be eligible for automatic parole after three years behind bars.
He was caught on CCTV running away after one of his crimes and has now been jailed
Judge Williams said Bond had bought a nightclub which became profitable. Before long he started taking cocaine and grew apart from his wife.
The judge said Bond began to watch pornography, then launched his campaign of sexual assaults against schoolgirls and young women.
Bond molested an 11-year-old girl in Herne Hill on September 18 last year and a string of 13-year-olds in Lewisham, Orpington, Blackheath and Lee.
He targeted a 12-year-old in Lee on September 28 last year during the morning rush hour, then a 13-year-old in Greenwich during the evening rush hour.
He then struck three times in 25 minutes in Blackheath on October 5 last year – groping a 13-year-old girl then attacking two women in their 20s.
After Bond admitted his crimes last month, Detective Chief Inspector Andrew Furphy, who led the investigation, said: ‘We are aware there might be further victims who have not yet spoken to police.
‘If you are a victim, or know someone who has been a victim of a sexual assault, I can assure you your information will be treated with strict confidence and sensitivity and we can also access specialist support where needed.’
Bond had grown apart from his wife and started taking cocaine and watching porn
Prosecutors said violence was used in the offences and a ‘degree of planning’ as they were committed at specific times of day.
Bond was arrested after police released CCTV of him fleeing an attack on a 15-year-old girl in Brockley. Bond was a wealthy businessman who once managed a Croydon nightclub and had a taste for cruises and the high life.
He is estranged from his wife, who kicked him out of their £825,000 three-bedroom home in Chislehurst, south-east London, after his arrest. It is now on the market.
A neighbour said: ‘Kevin had a lovely home, a lovely wife, a son and daughter plus to lovely grandsons and he’s thrown it all away.’
Bond admitted 11 counts of sexual assault and three charges of sexual assault on a child under 13.
Bond, a grandfather-of-two, was kicked out of the former family home and he started taking drugs and watching pornography, the court heard
At a sentencing hearing at Woolwich Crown Court on Monday, prosecutor Ben Lloyd said: ‘The defendant’s typical offending involved following unsuspecting women and girls in public places, often on their way to and from work during typical commuting hours.
‘Having followed them along the street or into buildings, he would surprise them, grab them on their private parts and then run off.
‘Needless to say the victims were left shocked and extremely upset by what had happened – one of the victims was just eight years old.’
John Blanford, for Bond, said his client’s life had started to fall apart following the suicide of his mother in 2016 and after he bought a nightclub which led him to the brink of bankruptcy.
The court heard that his marriage broke down and he started abusing cocaine and ecstasy and watching pornography before he began his campaign of assaults.
Police fear the prolific offender is responsible for many more crimes and have urged any other victims to contact detectives.
An NSPCC spokesman said: ‘To the outside world Bond had it all. But the reality is that he is a prolific sexual offender who brought a reign of terror on a community that endured young girls being attacked in broad daylight.
‘Thankfully he is now behind bars but his behaviour must be addressed as part of his sentence to ensure he poses less of a risk upon his release.’