A railway station night stalker who was caught moments before striking for the sixth time in two months had carried out a sex attack a year earlier, it has been revealed.

Two years ago pervert Ionel Arsenii targeted five women in Rainham during a 10-week campaign.

At the time a judge called him "a sexual predator who waged a campaign against vulnerable women".

He was given a four-and-a-half-year extended jail sentence in January last year - but the judge was not aware he had struck in Gillingham in May 2018.

Now a jury at Maidstone Crown Court has taken less than half an hour to convict the 27-year-old of another sex attack.

Arsenii followed an NHS worker who was walking home from work and grabbed her between her legs while exposing himself.

The judge, Recorder James Dawson, said the evidence had been "overwhelming and over powering".

The Moldovan has now been given another two-year sentence, although it will be served at the same time as his current jail term.

It will therefore not affect his earliest release date of June next year, after which he is due to be deported.

The court heard his victim was attacked just after 10pm as she made her way home from work.

Prosecutor Natasha Dardashti said the woman was walking down an alleyway when Arsenii quickly walked past her in the same direction.

"She continued walking and talking to her mother but then realised that the same male was walking back towards her," said Ms Dardashti.

"She could see he had his trousers down under his bottom, was exposing himself and performing a sex act."

Arsenii approached her, pushed her against a wall and attacked her.

The jury heard the woman managed to flee and raise the alarm.

Arsenii, of Wakeley Road, Rainham, struck again just 10 months later and his five victims were women and teenage girls walking home alone from either Rainham train station or a nearby nightclub in March and May 2019.

Each time, they were stalked by Arsenii before he exposed himself and molested them.

Arsenii, described as a "smirking weirdo" by one victim, was caught after a brave 17-year-old was able to record him on her phone.

Thanks to the seven-second clip police were able to trace him and launched an undercover operation, catching him semi-exposed in his Peugeot 307 moments before he struck again.

Arsenii later pleaded guilty to three charges of sexual assault, one of attempted sexual assault and one of exposure.

Judge Philip Statman said at the time: "This was all about power and control and sexual deviancy. I have no doubt in my mind that you are a sexual predator.

"Your victims were profoundly affected. They demand and must receive the protection of the court.

"This was a campaign involving considerable planning and in my judgment there is significant psychological harm (caused to the victims)."

Prosecutor Peter Forbes told the court how on one night in March 2019, Arsenii struck twice within 20 minutes after following two women in their 20s from the station - dressed in a camouflage jacket with the hood up.

Defence barrister Daniel Benjamin said his client, who is a qualified mechanical engineer and has a partner in Moldova, was ashamed of his behaviour, although in a probation report he had tried to "shift blame" for one of his offences.

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