A van driver has been found guilty of attempting to rape a woman near Leicester Forest East services on the M1.
Tadeusz Podlasinski, 60, of Wojska Polskiego in Nowa Wieś Wielka, Poland, was convicted of attempted rape, attempted assault by penetration and intentional strangulation following a trial at Leicester Crown Court on Monday 19 October.
He is due to be sentenced at the same court on 3 December.
The attack took place on the evening of 25 April in Baines Lane, which runs between Leicester’s Hinckley Road and the southbound services at Leicester Forest East.
The woman was walking to catch a bus home when Podlasinski attacked her, ordered her to remove her clothes and threatened to kill her.
She pushed him in the face, causing him to get up and head back towards the services.
She reported the attack to police and provided a detailed description.
Officers from Signal, the force’s specialist rape and serious sexual assault team, reviewed CCTV footage and identified a man matching her description.
The footage showed him entering the southbound services at 6.15pm and leaving a minute later before walking towards Baines Lane. He was also linked to a red, curtain-sided Iveco van.
Police made enquiries to locate the vehicle and its owner, while Detective Inspector Jenny Tattersall, the senior investigating officer, issued a public appeal for information.
On 28 April, officers found the van parked in a different area of the services from where it had been seen on the day of the attack. Roads policing officers secured the vehicle, and Podlasinski was found a short time later returning to it from the services building.
