A CYCLING sex attacker who groped a young mother as she walked her baby in a pushchair was yesterday (Friday) locked up for 16 months.

James Bywater, 32, was on a child's BMX bike when he stopped to ask the woman for the time - then grabbed hold of her bottom.

He then leaned over and squeezed at the front over her clothing with such force she feared she was going to be dragged down.

Teesside Crown Court heard how she was frightened for her daughter, and shouted "get the f*** off me" to attract attention.

Bywater tried and failed to snatch her mobile phone from on top of the pushchair, and rode off saying: "Sexy little bitch."

He passed another woman on Gordon Road in Dormanstown, near Middlesbrough, and said to her: "I'll do it to you, shall I?"

Prosecutor Rupert Doswell said Bywater was arrested days after the afternoon attack and admitted pinching the woman's behind.

He told police he had downed a litre of cider and taken heroin before the incident and had no real memory of what he had done.

Judge Howard Crowson said the victim would have been terrified by what he called "a violent attack as well as a sexual attack".

He told Bywater, who pleaded guilty to sexual assault and attempted theft: "She was vulnerable because she was alone with a child.

"I think, perhaps, sober, you can probably see how terrifying this would be . . . she was really in no position to prevent it."

Bywater, of Fawcus Court, in nearby Redcar, was also ordered to sign on the sex offenders' register for ten years by Judge Crowson.

His solicitor, John Nixon, told the court: "It is of significance he does not have previous convictions for this sort of behaviour.

"It seems to have been on impulse, which is worrying. There are some worrying undertones with regard to his future risk.

"His probation report doesn't make pleasant reading . . . they do not feel able to work with the defendant on the basis he is not willing to work with them.

"It is a shame because there is no doubt at all that this man has many issues in his life that are worrying, which I would have thought would be rightly addressed.

"I have no doubt at all he is shameful and embarrassed about his behaviour, and would wish to imagine it never happened."