Cyclist charged with sexually assaulting women across Brighton and Hove

A 20-year-old man from Hove has been charged with being the cyclist who carried out a series of sexual assaults on women across Brighton and Hove.

He is due to appear before magistrates in Brighton next month.

Sussex Police said today (Friday 18 August): “Detectives investigating a series of sexual assaults by touching, during which women across Brighton and Hove city have been targeted, have charged a man.

“Constantin Barbutu, 20, of Cromwell Road, Hove, will appear before Brighton Magistrates’ Court on (Thursday) 14 September charged with 20 counts of sexual assault by touching on women in the city dating from September last year to February this year.

“Police received 24 reports from women stating that they have been grabbed or touched from behind or had sexual gestures made towards them by a man riding a bicycle.

“The incidents stretched from New Church Road in Hove to Madeira Drive in Kemp Town and up to Dyke Road Avenue in the north of the city.

“Most of the offences happened during the hours of darkness ranging from early evening through to 3am.”