Sex attacker is 'a coward'

Police have issued an e-fit of a man they would like to question

One of the victims of a serial sex attacker believed to have assaulted five women in eight days has branded him "a coward who ruins lives".

The 42-year-old mother, who was seriously sexually assaulted as she walked in an alley on a housing estate in Weston-super-Mare last Monday described how she was kicked in the face by the man.

And she urged any other victims to come forward and report their experiences to the police.

"I think they should come forward," she said. "I have found the courage from somewhere to do this, to show that you can have the courage to come forward."

'Ruining lives'

Asked how she felt towards the attacker, she added: "I haven't got any feelings towards him. He is just a nobody. He is a coward."

In a direct message to the man who assaulted her, she told him to stop what he was doing because it was ruining women's lives.

In my view something has changed in this person's life to make this offending pattern start so suddenly Detective Chief Inspector Olivia Pinkney

The attacks are believed to have begun in the early hours of 14 September, when a 17-year-old girl was targeted as she walked along Summerlands Road in the Earlham Grove area.

Then, at 2240 BST on 15 September, the 42-year-old woman who spoke out on Wednesday was assaulted in Grasmere Drive.

The man's next victim was a 17-year-old, pounced on in the same area at 1300 BST on 17 September. The following day at 2130 BST, again in the same place, he struck for a fourth time, assaulting an 18-year old.

The latest attack, on a 17-year-old, happened at 0330 BST on 21 September in the Earlham Grove area.

Safety guidelines

A police investigation into the attacks is continuing - officers say they have eliminated 50 of the 100 names suggested for the attacker after an e-fit image was released earlier this week.

Police have also handed out more than 2,000 personal attack alarms and issued safety guidelines for women in the seaside resort, reminding them not to walk alone along the town's lanes and alleyways.

Detective Chief Inspector Olivia Pinkney, who is leading the investigation, said: "In my view something has changed in this person's life to make this offending pattern start so suddenly.

"I'm keeping a really open mind as to why this individual has done these attacks in the short space of time he has."

The attacker is described as a white man in his early 20s, 6ft tall and of slim build, with blonde or bleached hair, a pointed nose and a pierced or shaved eyebrow.