Shoe fetish man will not face retrial

5:02pm Wednesday 11th April 2007

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A SHOE fetishist accused of sexual assault will not face a retrial after a jury failed to reach a verdict on the matter.

Omar Abd-el-Gowad denies committing a sexual assault in New Cross on November 9 last year, but admitted eight robberies.

The 26-year-old, of Stillness Road, Honor Oak Park, Lewisham, pounced on eight women in the street and stole the shoes from their feet.

But he denies fondling one woman's leg during the attack.

The jury, at Inner London Crown Court, was discharged on April 4 after failing to reach a verdict on the sexual assault charge.

A spokesman for the Crown Prosecution Service said: "We discussed matters in full with the victim and taking into consideration all the circumstances of this case we have decided it is not in the public interest to proceed with a further trial."

The court heard the mechanical engineer moved to London from the north of the country in search of "fashionable and sexually attractive shoes."

Gowad is due to appear in the same court again on April 18.