FIVE-YEAR JAIL SENTENCE FOR SEX ATTACKER WHO TERRORISED DOG-WALKER IN GREENHEAD PARK
A MAN who launched a terrifying sex attack on a woman walking her dog in Greenhead Park has been jailed.Oliver Carr, formerly of Marsh, has been locked up for five years.
He had initially denied the sex assault and changed his plea only partway through his trial, when the woman had to go through the ordeal of giving evidence.
Leeds Crown Court heard how Carr leaped on the woman and knocked her to the floor before molesting her.
Judge Tom Bayliss, QC, who sentenced Carr, said he “threw himself” on the terrified woman, pinning her to the floor.
He began touching the woman sexually but she bravely fought him off and began screaming, at which point he ran away.
The court heard the woman was left very distressed and shaken and was in tears when police found her.
Minutes later, as she was giving officers a description of her attacker, she saw Carr in the park and he was arrested.
Judge Bayliss said Carr, who had been drinking, became aggressive when held by police and denied any sex attack.
He continued to deny the offence all the way through remand hearings but changed his plea to guilty when the trial was under way at Leeds and after the woman had given her evidence via a video link.
Carr, 22, was told it was clear the woman had been badly affected by her ordeal and had suffered physical injuries from which she was still suffering.
The judge said: “This was a violent sexual assault by you on a complete stranger in a public park.
An attack like this has an extremely traumatic effect on the victim, but it also has an impact on the wider community.
“People are entitled to go about their everyday lives without the fear of an attack such as this.
“No-one should have to look over their shoulder when they go out into the street or into a public park”.
Sarah Barlow, representing Carr, said that seeing the woman in the court had made him realise he did not want to make her suffer any more.
His remorse was genuine, she said, but he was still at a loss to understand why he had behaved this way.
He was immature and came from a difficult background.
Carr was ordered to register as a sex offender indefinitely and was banned from working with children in the future.
