Man jailed for indecent exposure at Strand on the Green

The Steam Packet – Photograph of the day by Bridget Osborne

Tripurari Sobhai, who was arrested for indecent exposure outside the Steam Packet pub in Strand on the Green in May

Sgt Gareth O’Donnell persevered with the case despite CPS saying there was not enough evidence to charge flasher

A man who exposed himself to women walking past him at Strand on the Green in May has been jailed for ten months.

Tripurari Sobhai, 52, was sentenced to 10 months in prison for Exposure and Assaulting an Emergency worker after persistent work on the case by Chiswick’s neighbourhood police team.

The Chiswick mums’ Facebook group circulated information about what they had experienced on Thursday 7 May:

‘Yesterday around 4pm, we were confronted with a flasher, across The Steam Packet. We called the police; they acted immediately and caught him outside the local Sainsbury’s by Kew Bridge’.

Although the police caught him, they took statements from the Riverside mums’ group and had CCTV evidence, the Crown Prosecution Service said they did not have enough evidence to charge him with indecent exposure, but they rearrested him for breaching prison release conditions, so he was not back on the street.

READ ALSO: Strand on the Green flasher

READ ALSO: Strand on the Green flasher suspect rearrested

The CPS decision was “frustrating” said Sgt Garreth O’Donnell, and he challenged it.

“CPS confirmed this was an error but it was too late to bring him back into custody without new evidence. I painstakingly reviewed CCTV and was able to locate an additional victim and get a statement from her. This allowed us to hunt down and arrest the suspect where he was then charged and remanded”.

Police target shoplifters

In the past month Chiswick’s Neighbourhood Police team has been targeting other key offenders, Sgt O’Donnell writes in his latest MetEngage update, among them a man  who had been travelling to Chiswick and displaying unwanted behaviour towards female shop staff, who was arrested by PC Storey.

‘We have also been running more plain clothes work around the High Road and on our last deployment came across a suspect who had just stolen clothes from a shop. He was also found to be wanted for a shoplifting in Hounslow and was arrested and sent to court.

‘In the early hours of 31 August a group of four males made their way through Chiswick. Two of these males thought it would be a good idea to break into FIVE different shops!

‘We took on the investigations to see if we could locate the offenders and got a breakthrough via forensics with one of the suspects, he was also linked to three other Burglaries across North and Central London.

‘When he was arrested for an unrelated matter we sprang into action and worked a very long day to get all the investigations ready. We were able to charge and remand the male with EIGHT Burglaries and he has been remanded to prison awaiting appearance at Crown Court.

It had also been brought to the team’s attention the there was a particular male who was targeting residential blocks for parcel and cycle thefts as well as various shop burglaries through Chiswick Riverside and Brentford East along with further offences across Brentford, Osterley and South Ealing.

‘We set up an operation to attempt to snare the suspect and were rewarded when hiding outside Wheatstone House I spotted the male riding past on a pedal cycle and managed to chase him down and detain him off the bike.

‘He was arrested and we charged him with TEN counts of Burglary, ONE Common assault, ONE Criminal Damage and ONE Going Equipped to Steal. He has been remanded to prison pending appearance at Crown Court and we are still actively investigating a number of other offences relating to the same suspect’.

Drop in vehicle crime

Sgt O’Donnell also reported recently to the Chiswick Area Forum that there had been a substantial drop in vehicle crime since they had been targeting thieves.

He told the meeting that since he started working in Chiswick and launched ‘Operation Automotive’, the Chiswick Safer Neighbourhood Team’s response to vehicle crime, there had been a decrease in vehicle offences across Chiswick of 24% in the financial year 2025-26 compared with 2024-25.

READ ALSO: Drop in vehicle crime in Chiswick

Chiswick’s Safer Neighbourhood Team is still looking for premises in Chiswick to use as a base of operations.

READ ALSO: Police looking for accommodation in Chiswick