by Keith Hunt

A pervert who carried out terrifying sex attacks on two women has been locked up indefinitely under a sentence for public protection.

Ashley Niblett, pictured right, will have to serve a minimum of seven years before the parole board considers whether it is safe to release him.

He raped one woman in the doorway of Maidstone library in July last year.

Less than two months earlier, he tried to rape a woman as she walked to work in the town in the early hours.

When arrested, Niblett, 20, told a custody nurse of sexual fantasies which, said a judge, showed he was "a deeply dangerous young man".

Maidstone Crown Court heard the raped woman, in her thirties, outside the library in St Faith’s Street in the early hours of July 11 last year.

Deborah Charles, prosecuting, said Niblett, then 19, repeatedly threatened to kill the victim. She could feel something pressed into her back.

Fearing she was going to be robbed, she offered him money. But he grabbed her by the hair and jacket and dragged her into an alleyway.

"She thought he was going to kill her," said Miss Charles. "He told her to put her hands on rails and pushed her up against them."

The ordeal lasted about 20 minutes. He eventually put his trousers back on and fled.

The victim went to the police station. DNA tests showed a match with Niblett on the national data base. The chances of it not being him were one in a billion.

He was arrested six days later at his grandmother’s home in Hurst Way, Sevenoaks, where he was living.

Niblett told officers he had spotted the woman and thought he would try his luck with her.

He told the custody nurse he had last been seen by the mental health team in February 2007. He added he had struggled with sexual fantasies, mainly involving sadism.

Tanya Robinson, defending, said Niblett wanted help. He had not gone to his GP when his ex-girlfriend told him to because he was scared.

"He managed to persuade himself he was not having these thoughts," said Miss Robinson.

He was a diabetic dependent on insulin and had problems with drink and drugs.

"He was angry and upset," she said. "He was intoxicated on each occasion. He felt everything was going wrong and this appears to be the consequences.

"He has no coping mechanism. He has been asking for help for years."

The prosecutor said the other victim, in her forties, was walking to work in the early hours of April 23 when a stranger ran up behind shouting: "Do you want a quick s---?"

He grabbed her and put his hand over her mouth as she screamed out for help. He pushed her against a car. She got her mobile phone out but Niblett grabbed it.

He told her: "If you don’t do what I say, you are going to die." He warned her he had a knife.

Niblett yanked her skirt down to her hips and tried to pull down her tights. A woman living nearby heard the victim screaming and went to investigate.

She told Niblett to let the woman go as she had called the police. He then ran off. His DNA was found on her tights.

The rape victim told in a statement how she went through the agony of waiting for the results of tests for HIV and sexual diseases and how the attack had affected her.

The second victim said the assault had shaken her up, she did not want to walk in the area again and suffered panic attacks.

Describing Niblett as "a frighteningly dangerous young man", Judge Andrew Patience QC said Niblett had degraded and humiliated both victims.

He said of the attempted rape victim: "You subjected that poor lady to sheer terror."

He then targeted a vulnerable woman to gratify his lust.

Niblett, who admitted rape and attempted rape, came from a dysfunctional background, but said Judge Patience: "These wicked acts cannot simply be put down to youthful immaturity."

Because of the complexities in Niblett’s make-up and mental state, he would need treatment for a long time.

Likening the indeterminate sentence to life imprisonment, the judge said if he had imposed a determinate sentence it would have been one of 14 years.