A DANGEROUS sex pest who groped a mum-of-two while she slept with her two young children has been jailed.

Anamul Hoque, 25, broke into the victim's home in the early hours and entered her bedroom where she was asleep with her two sons aged eight and five.

Burnley Crown Court heard the mum-of-two awoke to find herself being groped by Hoque and she screamed out.

Hoque then fled from the house.

She tried to call the police but found that Hoque had stolen the iPhone which she had left on the headboard of her bed.

Convicted sex offender Hoque, who has a history of flashing, has now been branded ‘dangerous’ by a crown court judge.

Jailing him for 52 months, Judge Simon Newell said that the defendant had a ‘very worrying and relevant’ criminal record.

Hoque, of Fifth Avenue, Burnley, who admitted burglary, sexual assault and trespassing with intent to commit a sexual offence, was also told he would be subjected to an extended licence period of five years upon his eventual release.

He is already the subject of a sexual offences prevention order, restricting him from harrassing women, until 2016 and he must also sign the sex offenders’ register for life.

Brett Gerrity, prosecuting, said that the 38-year-old victim was alone in the house with her two young sons as her husband was away at a family funeral.

The children were asleep in their double bed, with their mother, at around 5.45am on September 14.

Mr Gerrity said that she could feel a hand touching her right thigh and believed that her pyjama bottoms were being pulled down.

She looked around to see that the bedcovers had been pulled back and Hoque standing over her.

The victim screamed and Hoque fled downstairs, and out into the street. Initially the woman pursued him but returned when she became worried about her children.

But when she went to alert police, she discovered her iPhone had been taken. She eventually called the police at a neighbour’s home.

Police discovered a trainer footprint, near the woman’s kitchen window, and it was later found to match footwear belonging to Hoque.

The court heard that Hoque had two convictions for burglary in 2005 and for five incidents of indecent exposure in 2004.

In April 2011 Hoque was also convicted of sexual assault after he forcibly kissed a woman on the lips on the street.

Gwen Henshaw, defending, said Hoque was aware that he had serious problems and wanted help to address his difficulties.

The court heard that Hoque denied he had been ‘prowling’ in search of a victim to molest but accepted he had taken advantage of the woman when he came across her in the bedroom.

Probation reports compiled on Hoque identified that he presented a ‘medium to high risk’ of sexual reoffending.