A SERIAL sex attacker was last night starting a 15-year prison sentence after a judge ruled he needed to be detained for the protection of the public.

Ian Coull – branded the devil by one of his four victims – was convicted of five rapes and a sexual assault after a threeweek trial last September.

The 32-year-old returned to Teesside Crown Court to be sentenced yesterday, and was told by Judge John Walford he is a significant danger.

Coull, of Moffat Road, Hartlepool, will be freed at the half-way stage of his sentence, but will be on an extended licence for a further 15 years.

That means if he reoffends, the former cable-puller would be immediately recalled to prison and would have to serve the remainder of the tariff.

Coull raped three women between 2004 and 2009, and sexually assaulted one of their friends in a drug-fuelled attack, said Sarah Mallett, prosecuting.

After he was convicted last year, he made a phone call to one of his victims from Durham Prison and verbally abused her, the court heard.

Nicholas Atkinson QC, mitigating, described Coull as a man with more than one side, and someone who could build a better future.

He provided Judge Walford with a sample of letters from female friends who described Coull as a loving, caring and loyal father.

Mr Atkinson – who accepted the crimes were “dreadful” and deserved severe punishment – said: “Not every woman in the community is at risk.”

Judge Walford told Coull he treated women like sex objects, and said: “You present a significant risk of committing further sexual offences.”

The court heard that in one attack, Coull broke in through a bedroom window and raped a woman while he held a cushion over her face.

He was arrested by police investigating the rape of a woman who was attacked as she walked home from a night out in March last year.

Another man, Craig Campbell, has since been convicted for the assault in Rossmere Way, Hartlepool, and is serving ten years.

Coull was eliminated from the inquiry, but as detectives probed his past, details of the attacks on the other women came to light.

The court heard yesterday that Coull denied any wrongdoing, but was gradually accepting what he did and is prepared to seek help.