SERIAL sex attacker Dean Goodwin tried to contact one of his terrified victims on Facebook, just weeks before he committed the brutal early morning rape in Poole.

Speaking exclusively to the Daily Echo, the woman, who was just 13 when Goodwin molested her, said: “I contacted the police after he attempted to add me as a Facebook friend and he was arrested.

“He was bailed but released without charge because I had deleted the message from my phone; otherwise he could have been jailed for two years.

“It's shocking that just a month later he was on the run again after another life had been destroyed.”

The woman, now 25, was moved from her Poole home to “safe” accommodation in Bournemouth and said she was petrified Goodwin would try to track her down again.

She said: “It's always been my worst fear. We were uprooted before when Goodwin was released from prison after he came to live in the same area.

“We're still too close and need to be moved out of the county; for the sake of my three young children.

“We are all holed up in one room; we can't go anywhere.”

The woman was just 13 when Goodwin sexually assaulted her in Parkstone on May 3, 2000, grabbing her and putting his hand over her mouth to stifle her screams.

She said: “I'd never seen him before that day; he threatened to cut me up if I screamed again. If my sister hadn't walked past I believe he would have done much worse. I've tried to rebuild my life but I still suffer from extreme anxiety and have difficulty trusting. I've needed intensive counselling.

“I'm also very protective of my children; they are my main concern. There is no way I would let my five-year-old even play in the garden which is very sad.

“Goodwin is still affecting all our lives; he is an extremely dangerous man and I wasn't surprised to hear that he was being hunted again.”