Hunt for 'attacker randomly cutting off women's hair' on streets of south east London

14 January 2025, 10:15 | Updated: 14 January 2025, 10:32

Police have stepped up patrols in London over fears of an attacker preying on women in the streets of south east London.

An attacker is allegedly coming up behind women and cutting off their hair before fleeing.

Posts widely shared online state: “To all the girls and women of Sidcup, be aware there's a serial attacker who is randomly attacking women from behind. 

“So far he has attacked five people and likes cutting off hair so please be careful.”

According to the posts, one of the women was ‘badly beaten’.

One woman claimed that it was her 'very good friend' who was attacked on Mallard Walk.

She alleged that the victim was "putting her rubbish down the chute and he came up behind her and cut a lot of her hair off".

Detectives are ‘working hard to try and locate a suspect,’ the Met Police said.

A spokesman for the force said: “We are aware of social media posts regarding assaults on women in the Sidcup area. 

“We can confirm we responded to a single incident that occurred on Tuesday, 7 January at 20:41hrs in Mallard Walk in which a woman reported having her hair cut by a man.

“Please be assured that we are working hard to try and locate a suspect, and local officers have been tasked with high visibility patrols in these areas.

“If you have any further information, or have been a victim of a similar crime, please contact us by either calling 101, Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or online via www.met.police.uk/report - quoting 6616/07Jan.”

One resident said: “Hope he is caught soon, those poor women must have been petrified and traumatised by these attacks and if his violently attacking them, he could up his actions to something even worse.”