A man who was a suspect for an alleged rape and a separate vicious assault on a 68-year-old woman in Perth has been jailed for life for a series of offences against females, including hitting a woman with a four-foot metal bar.
Lee Cyrus, 48, received sentences ranging from two years to life at Southwark Crown Court, with the terms to run concurrently.
Cyrus, also known as Ivan Leach, embarked on a crime wave which led to a string of sex offences, acts of grievous bodily harm, aggravated burglary and robbery at knifepoint after he absconded from HMP North Sea Camp open prison in Boston, Lincolnshire, in October last year.
Prior to that he had sparked off one of the biggest manhunts ever seen on Tayside when he became the prime suspect for the alleged rape of a young woman in Perth and also an assault on Marjory Moran, 68, of Bridgend, Perth.
Armed officers searched Kinnoull Hill, Perth, using dogs and a helicopter and also carried out patrols in the Bridgend area of the city.
The young woman had been awoken by a man standing at her bed with a weapon.
The following day someone returned to her house and made off with a king size mattress which was later recovered by police divers in the River Tay after a man had been seen carrying it through the streets.
Ms Moran was hit so hard that her front teeth were knocked out.
Last week the Crown Office confirmed that Cyrus will not face prosecution in Scotland for the alleged Perth offences due to insufficient evidence linking him to the crimes.
However, they did not rule out looking at the case in the future.
Southwark Crown Court heard that Cyrus indecently exposed himself to a 53-year-old woman and a 62-year-old woman in Boston.
Cyrus carried out crimes of indecent exposure in the Hampstead Heath area of Camden, north London. The court heard he was armed with a knife and wore a black balaclava when he stalked and terrorised women in that area of the city.
The offences increased in seriousness, graduating to brutal attacks on elderly females who were alone in their own homes.
They included the knife-point robbery of one woman and the knife-point aggravated burglary of an elderly woman’s home.
Cyrus was sentenced to life imprisonment for each of four offences. They included two counts of grievous bodily harm, aggravated burglary and knifepoint robbery which all took place in November last year.