THE mother of a young woman believed to have been attacked by a dangerous convicted rapist said she had always feared he would attack again.

Andrew John Bailey, 31, was jailed for 12 years after targeting young women walking alone at night on streets or cycle paths in York and Selby over the last decade.

On each occasion, he came up behind them before raping, robbing or sexually and physically attacking them, the court heard. He had already served sentences of seven and five years for offences against women.

Now the mother of a suspected victim has spoken of her distress to learn he had attacked again, as she had predicted he would, several years ago.

Rebecca, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, from York, said her 14-year-old daughter had been walking across Hob Moor in 2009 when a man cycled up from behind and attacked her, brutally stamping on her face. He only stopped when he was disturbed by a person in a nearby house.

Her daughter later picked Bailey out from a police line-up and detectives tracked his mobile phone down to the Hob Moor area at the time of the attack. It was decided there was not enough evidence to prosecute but Bailey was successfully prosecuted for attacking two other women during that time frame.

Rebecca said: “He keeps getting out, doing half a sentence and getting out in the city, the city where he has been attacking before. He’s sick, it’s an illness.

“When he did it to my daughter, I said five years is not enough. Now he has done it another three times – three other families have gone through the same trauma for nothing when he should have been locked up.”

In 2009 – after being released for raping a woman in 2004 – Bailey was jailed for attempting to rob a Korean student by grabbing her from behind and attacking her and also robbed a Norwegian teenager by punching and kicking her.

After being released for these offences, he last year attacked three other women on York cycle paths.

During a number of the offences, Bailey was on parole and living under probation service supervision at its hostel in Boroughbridge Road, York.

Rebecca said: “At the time of his sentencing I knew five years wasn’t going to be enough and my biggest fear was that he would soon be free to do it again, and I was right.

“The police have had to spend time, money and resources bringing him to justice, only for the judges to hand out ridiculously light sentences.

“When are they going to put public safety first and realise some sick individuals are never rehabilitated?”

Jailing Bailey for 12 years for his three most recent attacks last month, the Recorder of York, Judge Stephen Ashurst told him he was a “deeply disturbed” and “very dangerous young man”.

“You are someone who attacks women for no discernible reason, and the public, I am afraid, must be protected from you. There is no alternative here but to pass a very long prison sentence.

“It is only by passing such a sentence the public can be adequately protected.”