Man who attacked lone women in hotel rooms jailed for ten years

Hugo Delgado, a dangerous man who sexually assaulted lone women in hotel rooms, has been jailed for 10 years at Wood Green Crown Court.

He had previously been found guilty, following a trial which concluded on 3 August, of assault by penetration, sexual assault and trespass with intent to commit a sexual offence.

He will spend a further four years on licence and will remain on the Sex Offenders' Register for life.

The court heard how on the evening of 6 October 2019 at a hotel in Shoreditch, Delgado approached a lone woman and claims the room she was entering was actually his.

The woman, who was aged in her 50s, showed him her key card and told him to discuss the issue with reception.

At 22:51hrs, Delgado told reception staff he was the woman's husband and that he'd left his key in the room. They gave him a key card which he used to enter the room when he returned to the hotel just over four hours later at around 03:00hrs.

Sometime after 05:00hrs, the woman was awoken by Delgado after he had sexually assaulted her. He was completely naked. She screamed and shouted for him to leave. He put his clothes on and fled.

Police attended and viewed CCTV footage which showed Delgado leaving the hotel at 05:25hrs. An investigation by the Met’s Sapphire Unit was launched.

At around 04:45hrs on 12 October 2019, a woman in her 20s who had been on a night out with friends in Shoreditch was approached in the street by Delgado. She walked off in the direction of Old Street and he followed behind.

The next memory the woman had was waking up in a hotel room and witnessing Delgado performing a sexual act. She had also been sexually assaulted.

The incident was reported to police later that morning. When officers went to the hotel they found Delgado in the room and arrested him.

Enquiries revealed that earlier the same night, Delgado had tried to obtain key cards for two rooms at the hotel where the assault took place. He gave the wrong name for one of the rooms and the other wasn't occupied. He didn't manage to get keys for either room.

The data from the room lock indicates that when he did finally gain access, it was because the door was open.

The offences were committed at different hotels.

In December 2019, officers from the Met’s Visual Images Identification and Detections Office identified Delgado as the suspect from footage taken in the lift area of the first hotel.

On 31 July 2020 he was charged with sexual assault, exposure and trespass with intent to commit a sexual offence. He appeared before Thames Magistrates’ Court and was remanded in custody.

On 24 February 2021, he was further charged with assault by penetration, attempted sexual assault and exposure in relation to the second victim.

The charges followed a year-long investigation during which detectives went to great lengths to reassure witnesses who showed admirable bravery in giving evidence. Their participation was key in allowing the case to proceed.

The second victim provided an impact statement to the court in which she said:

“He will go to prison but prison is a place like any other for someone with no ethics, values, ambitions or goals. Meanwhile, I am left with hours and hours of therapy, police phone calls, reminders of a trauma I hope will not follow me for the rest of my life and a challenge to find myself again and pick up from where I left off, despite what I'm still going through.

“I still don’t know what happened to me and I’m not sure I want the police to tell me. All I need to know is that no one deserves this - no matter who they are, where they are and the state they are in. I’ve always been incredibly careful with whom I give my body. It had to be an act of love because otherwise, it went against my values and principles. Being raped smashed these principles, along with everything I was built on."