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Female King’s students harassed at Maughan Library

A Kiss College London post about an alleged harasser has spurred several female students at King’s to come forward with stories of harassment at the Maughan Library. Roar has spoken to several of the women who have encountered him.

Screenshot from Kiss College London

On Friday, a Kiss College London post about a guy claiming to be from LSE at Maughan Library garnered much attention among the King’s student body. In the post, two female students from King’s are looking for other women who have had similar encounters as them at the Maughan Library. “He sits at the IT desk (even though he’s not part of the IT KCL team) and will stop and try talk to you for like an hour. Usually is at the library late at night,” the post reads.

Roar News has spoken to eight women who all have made claims about the same guy harassing them at King’s Maughan Library, and seen Whatsapp correspondence between the alleged harasser and some of said women. All the women wish to remain anonymous, some of them citing fear of him reaching out to them again as the reason. “I think a lot of girls are afraid of speaking out because of their safety,” says one of the women Roar has spoken to.

On Tuesday, a King’s spokesperson said the university is looking into concerns raised by the female students, “and are investigating further.”

Not the usual “let-me-get-your-number type of thing”

All the stories Roar have been told have several similarities. The man claimed to be an LSE student, and was described as being “quite well dressed” with “a preppy style.” He allegedly sits at the IT desk, or other areas around the ground floor. One woman says she encountered him on the first floor as well. Most of the women quickly found the encounter uncomfortable but didn’t say anything to not “ignite confrontation,” according to one of the women Roar has been in contact with.

The events Roar have knowledge of, happened between March 2018 and the spring of 2019. 

The women behind the initial Kiss College London post, who also wish to remain anonymous, say that they were talking about uncomfortable experiences at Maughan when they realised their individual stories matched.

“Our other friend suggested we write a post to see if anyone else had the same experience, but we didn’t expect that many responses, and all with the same tactics,” one of the women say to Roar, adding: “This wasn’t the usual flirting let-me-get-your-number type of thing, it was very creepy and deliberate.”

Pretended to be library staff

One woman explains to Roar that she met the alleged harasser at the printers at Maughan and gave him her number because “he was kinda charming after a while.” She didn’t want to keep in touch after he apparently made remarks about other women that she found “gross.” When she left the library that night, she explains, he walked her to the bus, something which she says “made me feel uncomfortable already.

Then my bus was there so I was about to run and catch it but he picked me up and kinda threw me above his shoulder. I don’t know, it freaked me out.” She told Roar she made it clear that she needed to catch her bus, but “he kissed me, on the lips, and I was just running to the bus kinda in shock.”

After that encounter, he texted her pretending to be King’s security staff, and also allegedly called her pretending to be from the Metropolitan Police. During the phone call, while pretending to be the police, he broke down laughing, saying “It’s me again from the library. Wow. You shouldn’t believe everything people tell you,” according to the woman.

After that, she tells Roar, she always ensured she was with friends when at the library until she eventually stopped seeing him there.

Roar has gotten access to a Whatsapp conversation between one of the women and the alleged harasser. Certain parts of the messages have been blurred for privacy reasons. 

Left them feeling “icky”

That story is not unique. Several of the women Roar has spoken have shown Roar Whatsapp correspondence almost identical to the conversation included above. One other woman was also called by an unknown number pretending to be King’s security staff, during which the man revealed it was actually him calling her.

Another woman Roar spoke to said she left her first encounter with the man “feeling icky.” Although she wouldn’t say she was initially scared after meeting the guy, “but you did have this feeling where you hoped that you wouldn’t see him again.”

“He spoke about his ability to manipulate women, what a privilege it would be for me to date him. He was getting quite personal and transparent about his past relationships and hookups, which was weird,” she adds.

Would never go back to Maughan that late

One woman says she found the man “would hang around the round room and ground floor printers between roughly 8 PM and 4 AM. He would stare at you when working, and if he saw you get up for a break he would follow a second later and happen to run into you to start a conversation.”

She adds that she thinks the other women’s allegations show that the mans “strategies have developed significantly,” referring to how he has allegedly misrepresented himself as maintenance, part of King’s security and IT staff. After four encounters, she stopped going to Maughan all-together, a sentiment echoed by other women Roar has spoken to.

“I would never go back to Maughan at those late hours, unless I was with a friend and I really needed to nail that work down,” says another woman. 

The women behind the original post explain to Roar that they have formed a group with some of the women who have stepped forward, counting 12 women at the time of writing. They say, “we just want to be given correct advice on how to report him and keep ourselves safe at the same time.”

If you have had similar experiences, please email [email protected] or drop us a message on our Facebook page.

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