'Evil' stranger tried to rape woman at bus stop

Ian Hudson was found guilty of offences including attempted rape

A stranger who strangled a woman and gouged her eyes as he tried to rape her at a bus stop has been jailed for nine years.

Ian Hudson, 42, stalked the woman in her 60s before launching a "violent and sexual" attack in Sunderland on 30 December, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

The five-minute long ordeal only ended when a passing student chased Hudson down and restrained him. The victim said she believed she was going to be killed, adding she had now seen "evil" and it terrified her.

Hudson had denied wrongdoing but was found guilty of attempted rape, sexual assault, assault and strangulation.

Having been deemed dangerous, Hudson will have to serve a further five years on extended licence upon his eventual release from prison.

'Stalked through streets'

The woman was walking home from a supermarket at about 22:30 GMT when Hudson emerged from a doorway with his hood up and started to follow her, recorder David Gordon said.

He was muttering to himself and the woman "not surprisingly felt nervous", the judge said, with Hudson ignoring her when she stepped aside and asked him to walk in front of her.

"She was effectively being stalked through the streets of Sunderland in the dead of night," the judge said.

The woman stopped in a bus shelter hoping Hudson would pass by, but instead he entered and "violently and sexually attacked her".

Hudson throttled her and gouged at her eyes as he pulled her clothing away and molested her, the court heard, but, "showing courage", the woman tried to fight him off.

A student on his way to the shops heard her cries for help and ran over shouting at the attacker to stop, giving chase to Hudson when he fled, the court heard.

The student caught up with him and Hudson punched him in the face before the man could restrain him on the floor with the help of another passer-by until police arrived, the court heard.

The woman was left "bloodied and bruised", Recorder Gordon said, and the student had a bruise where he had been punched.

'Truly horrific'

In a statement read to the court, the woman she was now "wary of everyone", adding: "I didn't know there was evil out there like him. Now I've seen evil and it terrifies me."

She said she had suffered multiple panic attacks which had stopped her going out and had changed her routine as she feared she was being watched.

The woman said Hudson had not liked it when she fought back, adding: "I honestly believe he would have killed me if the [student] hadn't come along."

She said she could not believe he had made her go to court and give her account at the trial and then not had the "decency" to take to the witness box himself.

The court heard that, after being arrested, Hudson had exposed himself to officers at the police station and lashed out at them after they had taken him to hospital, kicking one several times and knocking her into a reception area Christmas tree.

Hudson, of no fixed abode, had multiple convictions and had previously been jailed for wounding and arson, the court heard.

Recorder Gordon said Hudson was a "dangerous" offender who posed a "very high risk of serious harm" to other people.

Hudson will also have to sign the sex offenders register for life and must notify police of any sexual partners he has in the future.

Det Con Hayley McIntosh of Northumbria Police said Hudson was "dangerous and predatory" and his crimes were "truly horrific".

She praised the woman's "strength and courage" as well as the "bravery" of the student who "showed such concern for a stranger and came to her aid".