A man from Afghanistan who was seen by a CCTV operator groping a woman outside a Warrington town centre nightclub has been jailed.
Mohammed Esmati appeared at Warrington Combined Court on Thursday 19 March to be sentenced after being found guilty of sexual assault on a female at an earlier hearing.
He was sentenced to 12 months in prison and also has to sign the sex offenders register.
On 23 August 2025 a woman on a night out was approached by Esmati in the street while she was standing outside the nightclub Reef at 5.41am. He hugged her against her will, kissed her and grabbed her breast under her clothing before she was able to push him away.
A CCTV operator spotted the incident as it was happening and was able to alert police to the incident. Police were able to get to the scene and arrest him just as he was trying to leave.
PC Hannah Mooney said: “Despite denying his crime, not only did we have his actions captured on CCTV, but we also had an eagle-eyed CCTV operator picking up on the behaviour and alerting us to a crime in action.
“I’d like to thank the operator for their professionalism and quick-thinking actions. Thanks to you, we have a sexual predator arrested, convicted and now jailed.”
