A NIGHT prowler dubbed 'every woman’s worst nightmare' is facing a life sentence after being convicted of a string of sex attacks on elderly women.


Zsolt Suhaj, 25, had already been extradited from Canada after being convicted of night prowling and sexual offences five years ago.


On his release he will also be deported from the UK after targeting vulnerable pensioners as they slept in their beds in Nelson and Colne.

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Detectives investigating the case described the Hungarian national as 'a very, very dangerous sexual predator'.


A jury at Preston Crown Court took less than three hours to unanimously find Suhaj guilty of one count of rape, one sexual assault and five counts of trespass with intent to commit a sexual offence.


During the trial the jury was told Suhaj’s previous convictions included three counts of prowling by night, one of breaking and entering to commit sexual assault and three sexual assaults in Canada.


The court heard one of his victims woke to find him standing over her performing a sex act, while another discovered bodily fluids on her window pane.


Following his convictions in Canada, Suhaj returned to Hungary before coming to Lancashire in January 2016.
DI Tim Brown, said: “Suhaj is a very, very dangerous sexual predator.


"He has committed a number of offences over a number of months which appear to have escalated over time and resulted in a very serious sexual offence, a rape.”


On October 9, the court heard Suhaj climbed in through a window and raped a 66-year-old woman in her bedroom, when she returned to bed after making a cup of tea.


Following his arrest, the attacker insisted he had met the woman in Nelson the previous evening and had been invited to her home.

He told officers the victim suggested he climbed in through the window.


The jury was also told he claimed he had 'accidentally' touched a 70-year-old woman sexually underneath her bed clothes as he was burgling her house looking for gold and cash.


Between May and October 2016 Suhaj, of Barkerhouse Road, Nelson, targeted five homes he believed were occupied by vulnerable women.


He was also seen looking in through the windows of another home.


Many of the houses were bungalows.


Throughout the trial, Suhaj laughed and joked, but when the verdict was delivered he became angry, shouting “thank-you, thank-you” as he was led to the cells.


Judge Sara Dodd told the jury: “I am sure some of the detail you have heard was not easy to listen to.


“It is everybody, particularly every woman’s, worst nightmare to wake up with a stranger standing over you.”


The judge asked for a report to assess the defendant’s dangerousness before sentencing him on April 27.


Rape carries a maximum sentence of life.


Sophie Lorimer, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Zsolt Suhaj has been found guilty of committing a series of sinister offences over a six month period.


“Throughout the case he denied committing the sexual offences.


"He admitted being in all the homes, but insisted he was looking for money and gold to steal.


"Nothing was stolen from any of the homes, even where valuable items could clearly be seen.


"He claimed that the sexual assault had been accidental and that he had had consensual sex with a woman after climbing through her bedroom window at four in the morning.


“However, the prosecution case was that his intention was to carry out pre-planned sexual attacks.


“I would like to thank all the victims for showing great courage in coming forward and testifying against him in court, which has enabled the CPS to build a strong prosecution case and bring this dangerous sexual offender to justice.”


DCI Gary Brooks said: “I am pleased with the result and thank the jury for their guilty verdict and for seeing through Suhaj’s lies.


“Suhaj is a sexual predator whose behaviour escalated over the period of just a few months culminating in the rape of an innocent woman who should have been safe in her own home.


“Before that, he let himself into the homes of other women intent on sexually assaulting them for his own sickening gratification.”