Canal path sex attacker had intended to rape his victim

WOMAN SCREAMED AT HIM TO STOP, COURT TOLD

- By MARTIN NAYLOR

A SEX attacker who told a probation officer his intention was to rape a woman he grabbed from behind as she walked alone down a canal path, has been jailed for two years and nine months.

Nottingham Crown Court heard the terrified victim screamed for him to stop when put his hands over her mouth and then grabbed her between the legs as she walked to Sainsbury's at Castle Marina.

Moments earlier, 32-year-old Constantin Radu exposed himself to walkers on the same path. He had two days earlier carried out the same lewd act to two students as they walked to a nightclub and then again when a female officer came into his cell at the police station to tell him he was going to be charged.

Jailing Radu for two years and nine months, Judge Nirmal Shant KC said: "This was not just a sex assault that involved touching her, this was an attack on her which involved you grabbing her by the face, approaching her from behind and putting your hands between her legs.