Birmingham Britain's Got Talent flop nicked for station sex offence

Oct 11 2009 by Jonny Greatrex, Sunday Mercury

A BRITAIN’S Got Talent contestant who made a desperate bid for fame on the hit TV series has been exposed as a sex offender.

Mark Cohen, from Moseley, Birmingham, was laughed off stage following a pathetic dance act described by Simon Cowell as “just painful”.

Now the Sunday Mercury can reveal that the wannabe celebrity, who is in his 50s, pleaded guilty to sexual touching at the City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court in July.

The seedy accountant was given a 12-month community supervision order for the offence, which happened at King’s Cross Station in June.

He was also ordered to attend a sex offender group programme in Birmingham, and must tell police where he is living for the next five years.

A source close to the case says that Cohen was prowling the vast station looking for a victim.

“He was flitting between two platforms and stood out a mile,” said the source.

“He wasn’t looking at trains, he was looking at people. That was the thing that stuck out because it is highly unusual at a train station.

“Then, when he saw the girl getting off the train, he made a beeline for her. It was so obvious what he was doing.

“He went up behind her and grabbed her bum.

See Mark in action on Britain's Got Talent at about 8.00 of this clip - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYCMIZOGHJA

“He was very predatory and there were no two ways about what his intentions were – it could not be misinterpreted.

“The girl was a Polish national and I am not certain she was quite sure what happened.”

The attack was reported to train station staff who cornered the sex attacker before calling the police and looking after the young woman.

The source thinks fame-addict Cohen was given a lenient sentence.

“I waited to see what he was going to get sentenced to,” he said. “I was very angry and I think he got off lightly.”

When the Sunday Mercury confronted the father-of-one, who is getting divorced from wife Eleanor, Cohen said: “That was all dealt with by the police.