An Indian immigrant sex attacker will be deported from Britain after he finishes his prison sentence

Gareth Morgan:

A "SEXUAL predator" responsible for a horrific sex attack on a teenage girl in Wrexham is to face deportation when he is released from jail, a judge said.

Nirmal Singh was yesterday jailed for five years for throttling the girl and dragging her to an alleyway, where she lost consciousness and was left for dead.

Indian immigrant Singh, 21, who followed the Mold Crown Court proceedings with the aid of a Punjabi interpreter, was made the subject of "a strong recommendation" from a High Court judge that he should be deported on his release.

Mr Justice Butterfield decided against an indefinite sentence for public protection for Singh, who had no previous convictions.

But he said that as soon as the defendant completed his sentence he should be deported back to India.

"He wants to go back and no doubt we do not want to keep him longer than necessary to punish him here," said the judge, who added that a sentence for public protection, which he had considered, would simply cause "considerable difficulties".

The court heard that Singh had been prowling around Wrexham on New Year's Eve, looking for sex.

He approached a 19-year-old girl who had been out celebrating and asked her if he could have sex for money, offered her £500 in cash, and said he owned a nightclub, which she did not believe.

She refused, but he later followed her.

The attack occurred as she walked home alone, said prosecuting barrister Steven Everett.

Singh was originally charged with rape, which he denied.

But that charge was left on the file when he admitted an alternative charge of kidnapping with intent to commit a sexual offence, which also carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Passing sentence, Mr Justice Butterfield told him, "You attacked a complete stranger, seized her and dragged her into an alleyway, rendering her semi-conscious, and then indecently assaulted her. This is a very serious offence."

The judge said that it must have been a terrifying experience for his innocent victim.

He took into account Singh's guilty plea and his lack of previous convictions.

The judge said, "I am quite satisfied that it is not in the public interest that you should remain in this country.

"I make a strong recommendation that you be deported when you complete the sentence that I have imposed."

The court heard that he throttled his victim so tightly that she started to asphyxiate and had haemorrhages in both eyes as a result.

But a doctor was unable to say how close to death she might have been.

Singh, who at the time lived in Wrexham but who then moved to Totley Hall Croft in Sheffield, had approached the girl as she walked along the busy High Street.

Her bag got stuck on a post and she dislodged it but he started chatting her up.

The town centre CCTV showed that he walked away.

But he then followed her through Mount Street to Caia Road, where he crept up behind her and grabbed her, tightly around her nose and mouth.

It was so tight that his finger nails left marks in her face, her neck chain left a line-shaped bruise around her neck, and she was later found to have haemorrhages in the eyes.

"His hand was clamped over her face," Mr Everett said.

She was dragged backwards into the alleyway where the sex attack took place.

The victim became unconscious or semi-conscious, but she believed that she had been raped.

She had injuries including marks to her knees and she ended up shouting and screaming for help at a local house, where the alarm was raised and police and paramedics found her in a hysterical state.

Singh was arrested about a week later when he was recognised on the town centre CCTV. He denied the attack.

Forensic examination found the woman's blood on his clothing.

New Year's sex attack man jailed