A MAN who sexually assaulted a woman on board a late-night train to St Albans was snared after he left traces of his DNA on one of her socks, a court has heard.

Sanjay Vyas denied molesting a 25-year-old passenger travelling from London to St Albans on the Thameslink route in the early hours of Friday, November 21, last year.

But he was jailed for 18 months today after a jury found him guilty following a trial at Southwark Crown Court.

Vyas, of Mill Hill, north-west London, subjected hsi victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, to a 15-minute attack in which he massage her feet and then sexually assaulted her.

The 43-year-old defendant was subsequently identified and arrested after a public appeal for information, which featured CCTV stills of him pictured at St Pancras station, where the train departed from.

Investigating officer from the British Transport Police, Detective Constable Tony Gittins, said that DNA recovered from the victim’s sock proved crucial in placing him at the scene of the crime.

Constable Tony Gittins said: “Soon after the attack we managed to recover DNA from the victim’s sock and submitted it to the National Database for registration.

“After Vyas was identified as a possible suspect and arrested we conducted a forensic test to obtain his DNA.

“This was sent for comparison with the sock sample and provided the crucial match we were looking for.”

Vyas targeted the woman, who had been for a night out with friends, after he spotted her on a bench at St Pancras station where she was waiting for her train.

He boarded a separate carriage to the woman, who had fallen asleep shortly after the train departed from St Pancras at around 3.20am.

Vyas entered the carriage where she was sitting and woke her up. He then removed one of her shoes and a sock and began to massage her foot. Vyas proceeded to sexually assault her before departing the train at Mill Hill Broadway.

He claimed that the woman had been a willing participant during the incident and pleaded not guilty to the offence.

“This was a sickening encounter for the victim," said Det Con Gittins. "Although she did not suffer any physical injuries the emotional and psychological effects of what happened have been huge."

He added: “Offences such as this are not common on the railway and hopefully this conviction, which was made all the more possible by the existence of DNA technology, will help to give the victim some closure on what happened.”

Vyas was ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register for ten years and was told to pay £2000 in legal costs.