Man, 19, Appears In Court After Allegedly Exposing Himself To Women In Queue To See Queen Elizabeth’s Coffin

Adio Adeshine, 19, allegedly exposed himself to mourners who stood near Victoria Tower Gardens on Wednesday evening, just after Westminster Hall opened its doors to the public. He was later arrested and charged with two counts of sexual assault and two counts of breach of a sexual harm prevention order after appearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Friday.

“Just two days ago the defendant was part of the queue to see the resting in a state of Queen Elizabeth. The defendant repeatedly followed one of the complainants. The complainant believes he had pushed in the queue and noticed he kept getting close to her, which she found alarming,” said prosecutor Alex Alawode in court, Mirror reported.

“By 7:30 pm the defendant was getting closer to her. She believed he was touching her back and she described the defendant pushing into her,” the prosecutor stated. He added that the complainant passed a note to her sister informing her of what had happened.

The court heard the first complainant later allegedly saw Adeshine acting in a similar way towards another woman before security was alerted and police called, reported Daily Mail. He is said to have thrown his phone into the River Thames before jumping into the water himself in order to escape. But the court heard Adeshine was arrested shortly after coming out of the river.

Deputy Chief Magistrate refused to grant Adeshine bail, remanding him in custody ahead of his next appearance at Southwark Crown Court on Oct 14.

This incident comes at a time when a man appeared to rush towards the Queen’s coffin in Westminster Hall on Friday. Footage from the building, where the late monarch is lying-in-state, paused at around 10 p.m. When it started again, it was noted that the Royal Standard flag draping the coffin had been moved.

The man was tackled "to the floor" while other officials rushed and carried him unceremoniously out of the room holding him by his arms and legs.

"Around 10pm on Friday September 16, officers from the Met’s Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command detained a man in Westminster Hall following a disturbance. ‘He was arrested for an offence under the Public Order Act and is currently in custody," a spokesperson from the Metropolitan Police said.