Sexual predator put on a act to be homeless in bid to drag lone woman off street

12/13/2022

Sexual predator pretended to be homeless in bid to drag lone woman off street.

Joseph Holmes, 51, from Finkle Street in Bishop Auckland, Durham, draped a sleeping bag over himself on Duke Street in Darlington before following two different woman on 18 December last year.

The court heard that Holmes grabbed his victim and “tried to drag her on to Raby Terrace where it is more secluded”.

Holmes pleaded guilty to attempted sexual assault and assault on the day his trial was due to start – having previously denied the charges.

The court heard that he has 111 previous convictions for 205 offences, including a similar attack where he dragged a woman to the floor in Durham city centre in 2017.

He put his hand up the woman’s skirt and sexually assaulted her. He was jailed for four years.