THE rapist who attacked two women at knife-point within hours in Stanborough was sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday, January 26.

Desmond Grant, 20, of Edward Tyler Road, Lewisham, London, who had earlier pleaded guilty to the rape of a 43-year-old woman and attempted abduction for unlawful sex of an 18-year-old woman, both from Hatfield, was sentenced at the Old Bailey by Mr Justice Hooper.

On Tuesday, August 21 last year at about 9pm, Grant emerged from bushes at the bus stop on the A6129 near Stanborough Lakes and started talking to a woman waiting there.

She became nervous and walked away, but he followed her under the motorway bridge and into the Great North Road cul de sac, where he grabbed her and wrestled her to the ground.

Prosecutor Mr Ian Wade said: "He persisted on raping her on the ground.

"He threatened her with a knife, and said if she made a noise he would cut her to pieces."

Each time she turned away, Grant clutched at her throat and turned her face back. Two hours later, he again jumped out of undergrowth at the bus stop, this time grabbing an 18-year-old woman by the wrists and pulling her down the embankment, saying: "Surprise, surprise."

His second victim, who told police he wore a fixed grin as if he enjoyed scaring her, broke free and ran towards the Tesco roundabout, screaming for help and trying to stop motorists. He followed her, but she was saved by a driver who stopped, and who was believed to be French.

The court was told that Grant, at the age of 12, had trapped a three-year-old girl in a toilet cubicle in an Ikea store in Croydon and stripped her.

Grant was put under supervision for three years, and the police officer investigating warned: "If he doesn't receive help, he will go on to rape somebody."

Grant, who after the Stanborough attacks told police he had been visiting friends in Great Heath, Hatfield, was traced through a semen sample from the 43-year-old victim's dress which matched with a sample taken after his assault on the three-year-old.

Detective Sergeant Andy Dixon, who arrested Grant when he turned himself in at Streatham police station, said outside court: "I hope he remains locked up for a long time, because there is no doubt he is a danger to society."

Grant was put on the Sex Offenders' Register for life.