A man who masturbated in front of lone women on a London Underground line has been locked up. Matheus Prestes, 30, of no fixed address, targeted women travelling on the Bakerloo line in a spree of obscene sex crimes.

He glared at a woman and started to pleasure himself on the platform in front of her after getting off a train at Baker Street station at about 7pm on June 21 last year. Police said the pervert masturbated in front of another woman on a southbound train four days later.

When she told him she was calling the police, he jumped off the train at Edgware Road station.

Sgt James Ashby from British Transport Police said: "Prestes repeatedly targeted women on the London Underground in deliberate and predatory acts. His behaviour was disturbing, persistent, and entirely unacceptable.

"It is down to these brave women reporting these incidents that we were able to piece together his spree of offending and put him behind bars."

Prestes exposed himself for a third time before a lone woman on a Bakerloo line train near Kenton on July 6 at about 6pm.

He then got off the carriage, stood on the platform and stared at the woman as he masturbated.

The sicko exposed himself again to a woman on a train near Lambeth North station on August 5.

Prestes did the same to another woman on a train travelling between Oxford Circus and Waterloo stations. He masturbated in front of her and then left the train, British Transport Police said.

The force said on October 11, he went on to expose himself to three other women in a single day on Bakerloo line trains.

After his arrest, he admitted what he had done, telling officers he had offended because he "felt like doing it" and he got an adrenaline rush from it.

The perv pleaded guilty in court last November to eight counts of exposure. Prestes was sentenced to eight months in prison on Friday, February 13 at Inner London Crown Court.

Sgt Ashby said: "This sentence reflects the seriousness of his actions. Passengers can be reassured that we will always take reports of sexual offences seriously, act quickly to identify offenders, and work tirelessly to bring them before the courts."

If you experience or witness a sexual offence on a train or at a station, please report it by texting 61016. In an emergency, always call 999.

British Transport Police said its officers take every report seriously and will stop at nothing to bring sexual offenders to justice.