Man Appears in Court Charged with Margravine Cemetery Rape

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Benjamin remanded after alleged attack near graveyard chapel

Margravine Cemetery. Picture: Google Street View

A 36 year-old man has appeared in court charged with rape in Margravine Cemetery in Hammersmith.

Troy Benjamin, of no fixed abode, appeared at Hammersmith Magistrates' Court on Monday June 6, charged with two counts of rape and one of criminal damage.

Benjamin was remanded to appear at Isleworth Crown Court on June 4.

The sexual assault on a woman is alleged to have taken place early on the morning of Saturday 4 June.

Witnesses reported an attack on a woman in her thirties and Hammersmith and Fulham police arrested a man at the scene. Later the area close to the chapel in the cemetery was taped off to allow examination by forensics officers.

As well as being a popular green space, Margravine Cemetery is often used as a cut through from Barons Court Station to Charing Cross Hospital.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "Police were called Margravine Cemetery, Hammersmith, at approximately 7.50am on June 4 to reports of man attacking a woman.

"Officers arrived and arrested a man in his thirties. He was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault.

"He is currently in custody at a west London police station

"The victim, a woman in her thirties, did not require hospital treatment.”

June 10, 2016