A BICYCLE-riding sex fiend who pounced on female students near their university campus was caught thanks to a missing reflector.

CCTV had recorded a suspect peddling away from one of the attacks and picked up that his bike didn’t have a rear reflector.

When an eagle-eyed policeman later spotted Craig Perkins get off his mountain bike outside his house near the crime scene he noticed it didn’t have the safety device attached to it.

Detectives started investigating 29-year-old Perkins, who has a previous conviction for sexual assault, and was later picked out of an identity parade.

At Bournemouth Crown Court, Perkins was jailed for five-and-a-half years after admitting to two counts of indecent assault.

The court heard he first struck at 7pm on September 13 last year. After lying in wait in a secluded spot by the Boundary Road footbridge near to Bournemouth University, he grabbed a passing student from behind, pulled her to the ground and lowered her trousers and underwear.

His victim, aged in her 20s, screamed out, and he fled on his bicycle.

The second attack took place on November 24, when a second student aged in her 20s walked past at 9.30pm.

Perkins grabbed her from behind and put his gloved hand over her mouth. He dragged her to a more secluded area, told her to get on her knees and said ‘I’m not going to rape you, it’s just going to take two seconds’. Afterwards he got on his bike and rode off.

Matthew Jewell, prosecuting, said: “The road is used by a large number of students but this area is quite secluded and not readily visible.

“It is an area which the prosecution suggest may well have been chosen by the defendant for that very reason.”

On the evening of December 14 a police officer spotted Perkins, who matched the description of the attacker, entering an address near the crime scene with his bike outside. DNA evidence later confirmed his guilt.

A victim impact statement from the first woman was read out in court which said she had been unable to leave her house for several days after the attack and had been left mentally damaged, ashamed and frightened.

Reading from her statement he said: “I feel humiliated and I’m not able to go out after dark. Because he was not captured straight away I did not feel protected. I have lost my confidence and my trust.”

The second victim also said she was left paranoid and frightened by the attack. She will not walk alone at night and avoids the area where she was attacked.

Robert Grey, defending, said his client had spared his victims from reliving their ordeals in court by pleading guilty and that the attacks weren’t significantly planned.

Perkins, of Victoria Park Road, was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in jail and told he will be on licence for four-and-a-half years upon his release.

Describing the offences as "every woman's nightmare" Judge Peter Johnson told Perkins he will remain on the Sex Offenders Register indefinitely.