A MAN who committed a string of sexual offences just days before he was spared prison for a 2018 pizza-cutter attack has today been jailed by the same judge who previously let him walk free.

Reading Crown Court heard how James Dyer, formerly of Longs Way, Wokingham, sent three videos of him pleasuring himself to girls aged 14 and 16.

The court also heard how on another occasion he grabbed a woman’s bottom and asked her for sex after she got into her car in April 2021.

Dyer, 34, sent two of the videos on April 10 and April 16 to two girls he did not know. He also committed the sexual assault on April 16.

These incidents came just days before he was sentenced at Reading Crown Court for a 2018 attack on a neighbour in which he launched at her with a pizza cutter.

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Sentencing him on April 23, 2021, Judge Edward Burgess spared Dyer jail time as he suffers from paranoid schizophrenia.

Speaking at the April sentencing, Judge Burgess said: “Given the direct link between paranoid schizophrenia and offending, it would be counterproductive to send you to prison, given you would be much more likely to offend again.”

Yet on May 1, 2021, Dyer sent another sexually explicit video of himself to a 14-year-old girl he had spoken to before, having been interviewed by police about the previous incidents in the two days prior.

Appearing in court before the same Judge in court again today (August 25), Dyer was handed a tougher sentence by His Honour Judge Burgess.

The Judge said: “It was me who sentenced you on April 23. When I did that I had no idea about these offences. You were not interviewed about them for a few more days.

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“I gave you a community order because of the circumstances specific to your mental ill health as a result of you committing these offences in December 2018.

“These offences are of a different nature and are just as serious. In a way, they are more serious because you did not commit them when your mental health was in a dire state.

“You were sexually frustrated. You were drinking far too much which made your sexual frustration much stronger.

“You sent disgusting and offensive videos of yourself masturbating to two girls who were complete strangers to you.

“They were both shocked and upset, understandably.

“Then you sent similar images to a girl you knew. She had no reason to think she would receive such offensive material.

“You kept on despite her telling you to stop.

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“It was on that same day you committed that most serious offence -- the sexual assault.”

Earlier in the hearing, prosecutor Shanice Mahmud described the sexual assault incident.

Reading Crown Court heard how the victim was at a friend’s house in Reading and when returning to her car she was approached by Dyer.

She asked if he was lost but Dyer opened her car door and she screamed for help.

The defendant placed his hand underneath the victim’s skirt and groped her bottom three times before asking her if she wanted to have sex.

In a statement, the victim said she has started sleep-talking and calling out for help in the middle of the night following the incident.

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Judge Burgess praised the woman for her ‘extraordinary bravery’ in both fending off Dyer on the night of the incident and her response in the days that followed after she identified him at a police station on April 30.

He added: “It was a shocking and terrifying incident for her. I think this is a particularly serious example of sexual assault.

“In reality, this was a targeted attack on a lone female on her own in a public place in the evening.”

Defending, James McCrindell had earlier argued that the assault was ‘not at the top end’ of the offences under the category of sexual assault and that the victim was “not particularly vulnerable.”

But Judge Burgess sentenced Dyer to two years and six months behind bars after he admitted to three counts of sending indecent or offensive electronic communications with intent to cause stress or anxiety, common assault, and sexual assault.

He will serve up to half this sentence in jail before being eligible for release on licence.

Dyer appeared for his sentencing at Reading Crown Court from HMP Bullingdon via video link on Wednesday, August 25.

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