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A convicted murderer dragged a mother into bushes and strangled her after lying to the parole board to get released from prison.

Donald Sheridan grabbed the woman from behind as she walked home from the gym in Leeds on June 2 this year - around one month after his release.

The 55-year-old strangled the victim, made her put on a pair of tights and told her he would rape her.

Leeds Crown Court heard he only let the victim go when a dog walker came to the area, but he later told police that she wasn't 'his type' and he would probably have raped and murdered her if she had been older.

Sheridan also attacked a dock officer when she took him back to his cell after his first appearance at Leeds Magistrates Court.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term in 1986 after raping and murdering a 67-year-old woman in south Wales.

Sentencing Sheridan today (Friday) for his latest offences, Judge Rodney Jameson QC warned him that he is likely to stay in prison until he is too old and frail to be a danger to elderly women.

Prosecutor Michael Morley said Sheridan was released and housed in a probation hostel in Holbeck with strict conditions, including not to drink alcohol, in May this year.

Sheridan had been drinking rum when he took 'a considerable amount of money' to meet a female sex worker in the city's managed sex zone at around noon on June 2 this year.

The court heard the sex worker made a phone call while they were behind a skip in a commercial yard on Shafton Street and they began to physically fight before some men turned up and stole his money.

Following the incident, Sheridan made his way under a disused railway bridge near Armley Gyratory and sat in the bushes.

He grabbed a woman around the neck as she walked past on her way home from the gym and pulled her backwards into the bushes.

Sheridan told the victim to lie down and started strangling her then asked her for money.

She gave him £10, offered to transfer him more money, told him she had two young children at home and begged him not to kill her.

Sheridan told the victim he would not kill her and to be quiet then continued strangling her while telling her to be quiet.

Sheridan, whose lip was bleeding, then asked the victim to kiss him and perform oral sex on him, but she refused.

He then took out two pairs of female women's tights and made the victim put them on.

Sheridan let the woman go when a dog walker came near the bush but made her take the tights off first and asked her not to tell anyone.

The court heard the victim, who believed she was going to die during the attack, ran from the scene.

Hostel staff noticed Sheridan was drunk when he returned at 10.30pm, in breach of his licence conditions.

Police later found tights covered in the defendant's DNA at the scene.

The court heard police connected the two incidents, traced Sheridan using footage from CCTV cameras in the area and arrested him.

'Might have raped her, might have killed her, I don't know'

In his police interview on June 13, he said initially denied involvement in both incidents but then began making admissions.

He claimed he had only dragged the victim into the bush because he had just been robbed and said: "Well she's not my type really, do you know what I mean?"

Sheridan then admitted that he had had a fetish for women in their sixties and seventies ever since he had seen a naked nun when he was in care as a child.

He said he stole the nun's tights, wore them to bed and carried women's tights around with him ever since, adding: "It's a comfort blanket for me."

Sheridan said making the victim wear the tights did not 'do it' for him as he intended.

Sheridan was asked what would have happened if the woman had been older and the tights had 'done it for him' and he replied: "Might have raped her, might have killed her, I don't know."

Sheridan said he still experiences urges to rape and murder women, especially strangling them, and he had recently felt the urge to strangle an older sex worker after using her services.

Sheridan claimed he had let the victim go because she kept talking and he felt bad for her children and not because of the dogwalker.

After he made his first court appearance in relation to the offences the following day, he attacked a dock officer as soon as she took off his handcuffs in his cell.

He lunged at her and began to strangle her before another prison officer pulled him off.

Sheridan later told police he could have kept strangling the dock officer until she died.

The court heard Sheridan's murder victim had been found naked wearing only a pair of tights and he only admitted to having raped her before killing her after being jailed for life.

It was not the first time Sheridan had been released from prison on licence.

He had his first parole board hearing in November 2001 and was released before being recalled on licence a few days later, but the reason why was not given in court.

Sheridan, who appeared in court via video link from Wakefield prison, pleaded guilty to robbery, false imprisonment, committing an offence with intent to commit a sexual offence and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

He was sentenced to 11 years' imprisonment and life imprisonment with a minimum term of five-and-a-half years.

Sheridan was sentenced in his absence after telling the judge he did not 'need' to hear the details of his offences repeated by the judge.

'Sheridan’s actions have shown him to be a very dangerous and predatory individual'

Det Insp Al Burns, of Leeds District CID, said: "Sheridan’s actions have shown him to be a very dangerous and predatory individual who clearly presents a serious risk to women.

"The victim that he attacked in Holbeck was put through an absolutely terrifying ordeal and was left traumatised by what he did, as was the female custody officer that he later assaulted at court.

"The offences he committed caused understandable concern in the community at the time, and we are very grateful to all those members of the public who provided information that assisted our enquiries.

"Sheridan was caught as a result of a detailed and comprehensive investigation by detectives supported by specialist forensic expertise.

"We hope the victims will be able to take some comfort from knowing that he has been brought to justice, and we hope the community will be reassured to know that he is now safely behind bars."

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