A Tube driver from Neasden has told a court he attacked a woman in a railway underpass because his friends “teased” him about being a virgin.

Russell Chandler, 41, of Chartley Ave, has admitted indecently assaulting the woman at Mill Hill Broadway Station in May 1994 but denies rape.

Chandler was 19 at the time of the attack and his victim was 34.

Harrow Crown Court heard he has also admitted indecently assaulting another woman two days later but denies a further charge of attempted rape in relation to the victim.

Giving evidence today, Chandler said in the hours leading up to the attack he had been drinking in a park with friends when his friend told them he had performed a sex act on a girl at a party and teased him for his lack of experience.

He told jurors his friend was “bragging that he had done this and we hadn’t done anything”.

On his way to his home in Colindale he stopped to urinate in the underpass before pinning the woman to the ground in what he described as a “moment of madness”.

The victim, who was pinned down with her face to the floor sustained scrapes and bruises to her legs during the attack.

Chandler told the court: “I didn’t know what I was doing. It was an out of body experience.”

The court heard that Chandler, who attended secondary school in Brent, had dropped out of studying A-levels and Hendon College and was unemployed at the time of the attack.

He told the court he had never told anyone about the attacks and that he had “kept it locked away in my head...these horrendous events”.

Fighting back tears, he said: “I’m extremely sorry for what I’ve done.

“I’m going to go to prison for a long time. I did assault both women. I didn’t intend to rape.

“My children have to grow up without a father and that’s my fault. I have to live with that.

“It was a crazy moment of madness by a teenager who didn’t know what he was doing.

“I’m 41 now and just looking back I want to shake him.”

The court heard Chandler had taken up a soccer scholarship at a US university in the summer of 1994 but returned to the UK shortly after to be with his girlfriend, who he later married and with whom he has a two year-old son and a step-daughter, eight.

He was charged with the historic attacks after his DNA was taken when he was arrested for an unconnected matter earlier this year and it came up as a match.

The trial continues.