8 Hr Ordeal for Gay Man Accused of Sex on Himself on Train
Mr Jones, of Towncourt Crescent, Petts Wood, said: “I was the wrong person at the wrong place at the wrong time.
“I don’t mind answering questions but it was just the heavy-handed way of ‘you’re guilty’.
“I thought that’s not right, I have done nothing wrong.”
The BTP officers were looking for a man wearing a blue shirt who had reportedly performed a sex act on himself in a train carriage a woman was travelling in on the 6.28pm train from Petts Wood to Bromley.
Mr Jones had been on that train and was wearing a blue jacket so when officers found him on a train travelling back to his home about two hours later they arrested him.
After being questioned at Orpington he was locked in a cell at Ebury Bridge (Victoria) Transport Police station for several hours before a formal interview took place.
During this interview it emerged the suspect the police were looking for was in his late 20s, had blondish hair and was travelling in the back carriage.
Mr Jones is 49 years old and was travelling in the front carriage.
He said: “I said it could not have been me and I also added that as a gay man I would never be at all interested in masturbating in front of a woman or on a train.
“If I hadn’t had the blue jacket on then I wouldn’t have been a suspect.”
The musician added: “I do not feel safe on trains and buses now because you could find yourself wrongfully arrested.”
He was eliminated from the BTP enquiries after officers watched the CCTV from the train.
Investigating officer Detective Sergeant Jason Schweiger said: “We need to act quickly when we receive a report of this nature, a suspect could still be at the scene and we need to do our best to identify the person responsible.
“In this case, a description of a man we were looking for in connection with the incident was circulated and a man of similar description who had travelled on the train in question was arrested.”
Officers are still appealing for information about the incident which happened on board the 6.25pm Orpington to London Victoria service on June 3.
The man officers are keen to speak to is described as in his late twenties, slim, with short ginger hair.
He was wearing a pale blue shirt with a tie and blue jeans at the time of the incident.
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