A SEXUAL predator, who assaulted a lone woman at night after dragging her into a secluded spot in Bradford city centre, has been jailed for seven years.

Married Mohammed Manan, 39, followed his victim before pulling her into the bricked up archways near to Forster Square railway station, where he put his hand down the front of her jeans and sexually assaulted her.

When the woman screamed and fought back, Manan punched her in the nose, knocking her to the ground and causing bruising, and then put his hands round her throat.

The assault ended when he was disturbed by a passer by, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Jailing Manan, a Dutch national with an 18-month-old child, Judge David Hatton QC, told him: “She was vulnerable because she was alone at night. You saw her as your opportunity.”

The judge added: “Women have a right to expect to be able to walk the streets, whatever time of day or night, in safety without being harassed and molested by predators. Any man who follows a young girl at night as you did, and behaves towards her as you did, is dangerous.”

The court heard the woman was on her way home at about 12.30am, after playing the Pokemon Go game on her mobile phone in the city centre, when she was approached by Manan, who had been drinking with workmates.

Prosecutor Christopher Rose said Manan called out to the woman and offered to walk her home. She declined and made it clear she did not want him anywhere near her, Mr Rose said.

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But the judge said Manan followed her for a considerable distance, accosted her on a lonely path, and forced her into one of the dark arches. The court heard that Manan, of Louise Close, Rochdale, was an agency decorator working in Bradford with two colleagues, staying at the Travelodge Hotel.

The three had been out drinking in the city centre, got an Indian takeaway and returned to the hotel. But Manan - who was said to have been looking for girls on sex sites during the evening and had said he wanted “jiggy jiggy”, or sex - left the hotel again after just nine minutes. The judge imposed an extended three years on Manan’s licence when he is released, which would not be until he had served at least two thirds of his sentence.