A 50-year-old Kent man who groped female passengers on the London Underground has been put behind bars for a year.

Christopher Cutler, from Gravesend, was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting women on Central line tube trains and the Docklands Light Railway on three occasions between April and June 2007.

In all of the offences, Cutler boarded a crowded train, stood directly behind his victim and groped her.

His name will also be placed onto the sex offender’s register for 10 years.

Cutler was caught after a British Transport Police (BTP) investigation used CCTV footage to link him to the crimes.

The images were circulated to BTP and Metropolitan Police officers, and in July 2007 an off-duty police officer at Blackheath rail station recognised him on the platform, and he was arrested.

Det Con Jane Hill, of BTP’s Indecency Unit, said: “I would like to thank the victims and witnesses who came forward because with their help it was possible for us to quickly identify Cutler as the offender.

“Everyone has the right to travel on the tube and go about their business without being subjected to this sort of assault and the one year sentence handed down shows just how seriously this type of crime is treated by BTP and the courts."