A SERIAL sexual predator has been jailed for a string of late-night assaults on lone women.

Jude Krishnan, 22, of Montpelier Crescent, Brighton, was yesterday sentenced to six years and two months after being found guilty of five sexual assaults and two attempted sexual assaults between May 2012 and September 16 last year.

Lewes Crown Court was told that Krishnan would approach women walking at night or in the early hours and indecently touch them over their clothing.

He attacked three women in one night in February last year – including an incident where a 26-year-old woman was grabbed from behind and groped over her clothes in Roundhill Crescent, Brighton. On a different occasion in the city, this time at 4.20am, another 26-year-old woman was subjected to a similar assault at the junction of North Road and Gloucester Place.

He assaulted a woman in Lewes Road, Brighton, on Thursday, January 17, 2013, and another on Monday, September 16 – seven months after he was arrested on Sunday, February 3, and bailed.

Krishnan was also found guilty of two attempted sexual assaults.

The first happened at the University of Sussex campus in Falmer on Wednesday, May 30, 2012. The second was said to have taken place at The Level in Brighton on Sunday, November 18.

Krishnan denied the charges but was found guilty by jurors in June. The jury at Lewes Crown Court could not reach verdicts on three further sexual assault charges – but they will lay on file.

Detective Constable Dawn Robertson, of Sussex Police, said: “After a complex investigation, I am pleased that Jude Krishnan has been found guilty of seven offences. This was a series of sexual assaults offences committed over a nine-month period which showed that he presented a real danger to lone women.

“We hope that this gives confidence to other women to come forward and support the criminal justice system in the prosecution of sexual offences.”