Rapist sexually assaulted five-year-old on way home from prison release.

Convicted Rapist Assaults Child on Train

Darren Rothwell, 42, was convicted of sexually assaulting a five-year-old girl on a train just hours after being released from prison.

Rothwell, who had served a sentence for harassment and assault, boarded a train at Manchester Victoria on April 18th, and immediately began to intimidate two women and their young children.

He swore aggressively at the women, drank brandy, and bragged about being released from prison, even stating that he was on his way to see an ex-partner who had a restraining order against him.

Rothwell made a series of uncomfortable comments to the women, and even asked the five-year-old girl to take off her top and give it to him.

One of the women challenged his behavior, but he went on to try and kiss both of them.

Rothwell was overheard telling the women to Google his alias "Darren Noonan", which would have revealed his 2009 conviction for rape, sexual activity with a child, and child abduction.

As the train approached Wigan, Rothwell asked the five-year-old girl for a hug, and then went to pick her up before sexually assaulting her in front of her mother.

The alarm was raised, and officers quickly identified Rothwell. He was jailed for 26 months at Bolton Crown Court after pleading guilty to sexual assault.

DC Ian Grice of British Transport Police said, "Rothwell clearly had absolutely no desire to rehabilitate himself after prison, but to sexually assault a five-year-old child before he'd even made it home is beyond reprehensible. He is clearly an exceptionally dangerous individual, and I am relieved, as I'm sure his victims' family will be, to see him back behind bars. I can't imagine how traumatic this must have been for them, and I hope they are now able to begin to put this terrible incident behind them."