A ‘DANGEROUS’ night-time sex attacker molested a young Burnley mum in her own bed after sneaking into her home last Christmas, a court heard.

Emdad Ali’s victim, who didn’t know him, had been lying next to her sleeping little girl in the early hours of Boxing Day when he crept into her bedroom and slipped his hand under the bed covers.

The woman assumed it was her boyfriend and told him: “Go away. I have got a four-year-old in bed with me.”

Ali then told the woman ‘You know you need it’ and she realised it wasn’t her partner, reached for her glasses and saw the defendant kneeling at her bedside, Burnley Crown Court heard.

The hearing was told the horrified and distressed victim pushed Ali out of her bedroom and down the stairs, yelling for her boyfriend.

The defendant kept telling her repeatedly: “You know me.”

Police were called and Ali was arrested.

Prosecutor Stephen Parker said: “Fortunately, her daughter remained asleep in bed throughout this entire incident.”

Ali, who the court was told, was suffering from a severe schizophrenic illness, admitted sexual assault.

The defendant, 24, of Cromwell Street, Burnley, was made subject to a hospital order without restriction and will be detained at Pendle View Mental Health Unit at the Royal Blackburn Hospital.

He was ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for seven years.

The prosecutor continued: “The victim had never seen or met this male before and can only assume they must have left the back door unlocked and he just made his way in. The incident had left her very shaken and upset. The idea that somebody could just walk into her house and just touch her like that violated her in every possible way has sickened her due to the fact her four-year-old daughter was in bed with her at the time.”

Mr Parker said when Ali was questioned by police he claimed he knew the person in the house and she invited him back to her house.

Judge Jonathan Gibson, who read medical reports from two doctors, said Ali was suffering from a severe schizophrenic illness.

The defendant needed more treatment and was unlikely to co-operate outside hospital.

Judge Gibson said: “Dangerous behaviour as displayed in this case is associated with your illness.”