Aryan Rashidi
Afghan national Aryan Rashidi, 20, has been jailed for two separate attacks. Police handout

A "predatory sex attacker" who raped a pregnant woman at knife point in her own bed and attempted to sexually assault a sleeping woman with her husband in the room has been jailed.

Afghan national Aryan Rashidi was sentenced to 14 years and seven months imprisonment at Leeds Crown Court on Monday (26 February) after pleading guilty to committing a serious sexual offence as well as trespass with intent to commit a sexual offence.

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The 20-year-old, who entered the UK on a lorry illegally, committed the first offence on 14 September in Bradford when he broke into a property and woke a sleeping woman by tugging at her clothing, before fleeing when her husband woke alongside her.

The court heard that the woman awoke to find Rashidi pulling at her pyjama bottoms after he climbed a ladder while her baby was asleep in a cot beside her and another child was sleeping in a different room.

Then on 5 October at around 2.08am police were called to a house near Wakefield city centre 2016, after it was reported a woman had been seriously sexually assaulted at knifepoint by a man who had climbed into her house through an open window.

Rashidi was linked to the crimes by his fingerprints and when he was arrested he said he did not know his date of birth claiming he was aged 15 or 16, although dental records show he is likely to be aged 22.

DCI Sue Jenkinson of Wakefield District Police said: DCI Sue Jenkinson of Wakefield District Police, said: "It is no exaggeration to say that Rashidi is a highly dangerous individual.

"His actions in breaking into a property and seriously sexually assaulting a pregnant woman while she slept were predatory in the extreme.

"He also clearly showed sexual intent towards the female victim in the offence in Bradford and his actions must have been terrifying to everyone concerned."

Defending Rashidi, Robert Stevenson, said his client now accepted that he was aged over 18 and that the defendant was the "product of a somewhat traumatic past."