Nathan McCracken of Norton jailed for second sex attack on lone women

Nathan Thomas McCracken, 29, was already a convicted sex offender and paedophile when he targeted the rider, York Crown Court heard.

Louise Reevell, prosecuting, said McCracken was driving on a lonely side road when he passed the young woman, turned his car round and accosted her.

Despite her attempts to stop him, he sexually assaulted her while she was sitting on the horse.

He claimed he would give her £1,200 if she didn’t tell anyone what he had done.

She refused and later, with the help of her friends, tracked him down.

It was the second time in two years McCracken had attacked a woman out on her own. In June 2020, he had carried out what Judge Simon Hickey called a similar assault on a young woman.

• Read more about the earlier attack here

A probation officer after interviewing McCracken told the court: “He poses a very high risk to women of any age.”

“I agree,” the judge said. He told McCracken: “You are undoubtedly dangerous. My job is to protect young women in society from someone like you.

“There is a significant risk of you committing offences of this nature against children and particularly young and adult women.”

McCracken had attacked the rider despite being subject to a lifelong sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) specifically designed to prevent him approaching women on their own.

The judge said: “You deliberately turned round, no doubt to target her. She was alone geographically, she was alone physically, she has got no help and you and she were on this very quiet road with very little through traffic.”

The rider told the court she was now scared to go out on her own, whether in a car or riding, and was nervous in a crowd.

McCracken was jailed for four years and seven months plus a two-year extended prison licence following his release. The SHPO order remains in force and he is barred from working with children or vulnerable adults.

Hull Prison for Men

McCracken, of Commercial Street, Norton, pleaded guilty to sexual assault and breach of the SHPO on the day of his trial. He also pleaded guilty to a separate breach of the SHPO involving a laptop which he had not told police about.

Ms Reevell said McCracken made the woman give him her phone number. After the attack, she received messages from him and together with her friends used them to track him down.

For McCracken, Michael Forrest said his offences were linked to his social isolation and jail would “simply increase his isolation and his inability to live in the community effectively".

He needed help to address his issues, which he was motivated to take.

The pandemic had prevented him from going on sex offender courses when serving a 16-month jail term for his previous sexual attack.

The defence barrister said McCracken was remorseful, but the judge said he was only remorseful for having been caught and the problems it caused him.