Usually in the morning when commuting to work on the train I am listening to my Ipod, but due to a combination of being off work for several weeks and losing my Ipod charger I ended up having nothing to aurally shelter me from the monotonous and boring conversations on the train.
What a surprise today though, getting on the train at Newmarket and sitting right behind me was a middle aged man, with what can only be described as a somewhat seedy and furtive appearance, striking up a conversation with a young teenager who was already on the train By the time we'd arrived at Cambridge, he attempted to get the boy's telephone number but failing at this had instead offered to give the boy his number.
Whilst one would like to assume that the furtive gentleman had only pure and unsullied motives for striking up conversation with someone barely a third of his age, the way in which he appeared to be attempting to gain the trust of the youth, coupled with the insistence in swapping telephone numbers really shocked me. For those that know me, that is quite an achievement.
The British Transport Police were very happy to take a statement from me, and in fact delayed my onward journey by almost 40 minutes by their detailed questioning on the matter.
The "bobby" in question told me that the way these people work is to start out small, and get more daring as time goes on, and eventually get so brazen at their attempts that they make mistakes and get caught.
Whether this man was trying to groom the child for nefarious activities or just having an innocent conversation is now for the police to investigate, and not for me to judge.
I was interested to hear that the police have finally caught the serial masterbater who travelled on the train from Saffron Walden. The stories that never get in the paper eh?
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