HE is one of Hampshire’s most wanted men.
This is the face of suspected serial sex attacker Mohammed Islam, who police are trying to find in connection with a series of terrifying assaults on lone women.
But the 22-year-old is today at the centre of a major police appeal after he failed to answer bail and vanished from his home.
Detectives had arrested Islam in March this year, in the weeks after several women were attacked and indecently assaulted as they walked in Southampton, and questioned him about the allegations.
However, despite being on bail and asked to return to a police station to discover his fate in May this year, Islam has disappeared.
He has not been seen at his home above an Indian restaurant where he worked in Milford on Sea for five months and police fear he may well have gone to London.
Islam came to the UK after being granted a student visa allowing him to study at Opal College in the capital yet he has never attended.
Instead he is known to have worked in a number of Indian restaurants both in Southampton and the New Forest and there is now a strong possibility he is doing the same outside the county.
The Daily Echo reported in March this year how a sex fiend was being hunted by police following three attacks on women in just nine hours.
Patrols were stepped up and women warned to take extra security measures as officers investigated whether they were definitely linked.
One of the attacks happened early in the morning, between 6.30am and 7am, outside the Matalan store in Havelock Road where the victim was grabbed and sexually assaulted.
There were further attacks in the city and Portswood areas which involved women aged in their 20s.
Detective Sergeant Matt Taylor told the Daily Echo how extensive inquiries have been carried out to try to trace Islam.
He said: “These stranger attacks on lone women were particularly nasty and frightening for the victims.
Despite numerous inquiries we do not know the whereabouts of Mohammed Islam, who has already been questioned in connection with this investigation.
“It is extremely important that we find him and think there is a possibility he may have gone to London, however I would appeal to anyone who has information that might help us to come forward.”
Islam speaks English with a Bangladeshi accent and has always been seen, both in person and on CCTV footage, carrying a satchel over his shoulder.
Anyone who knows where he might be is asked to call Southampton’s area CID on 101 or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
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