2 publishers · first seen Thu, 29 Oct 2026 16:11 UTC · updated Thu, 29 Oct 2026 20:02 UTC
A 35-year-old man, Samuel Hyde, sexually assaulted a 12-year-old girl at a railway station in south Wales on June 30 after grooming her online and lying about his age. Hyde, from Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, met the girl at the station in the Rhondda Valley, pulled her to a secluded area, forcibly kissed her and touched her on the bottom, before being confronted by her friend on speakerphone and later chased away by her father. Police apprehended Hyde after a short chase, during which he dropped a rucksack containing a kitchen knife. He admitted to assaulting a girl under 13 by touching, engaging in sexual communication with a child, possessing a knife, and breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
Hyde had previously been convicted in 2019 of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and causing a child under 16 to watch a sexual act. At Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court, he claimed he was "bored, lonely and depressed" and said he suffered from autism, but denied being sexually attracted to children.
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