AN Eastleigh man, who molested a jogger as she worked out in a Hampshire park, has been sent to a special hospital indefinitely after a judge branded him a danger to the public.

The victim was exercising on a bench when she was approached by Simon Gould and made it plain she did not want to talk to him.

But he refused to go away, eventually saying: “I’ve had enough.”

Gould then suddenly grabbed her from behind and as he put his arm around her neck, she felt she was being strangled and feared she was about to be raped as he fondled her breasts, the court heard.

She screamed at him to stop and shouted for help and he eventually had to let go when another man came into Lakeside Country Park in Eastleigh.

Gould ran off but was later arrested in the town.

Denying a charge of sexual assault, he claimed the woman had exposed herself to him and they had discussed taking matters further.

He also said it had been another man who had attacked her.

Jurors threw out his defence and convicted him. Sentence was then adjourned for probation and psychiatric reports.

Today Judge Peter Henry told Gould he had agreed with their verdict.

Psychiatrist Catherine Sherwin told Southampton Crown Court Gould – who sat in the dock with three staff from Ravenswood Hospital - was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and was sexually disinhibited.

“He suffers from a mental illness which can be treated and a bed is available for him,” she said.

Passing sentence, the judge referred to the victim’s impact statement in which she said she could not sleep properly, had lost confidence and fearful of what might have happened had the other man not turned up.

He added that Gould’s previous convictions were not the most serious but had a worrying trait.

He had been violent to his family, the police, hospital and prison staff, and that had escalated into sexual violence on a stranger, the judge said.

“I am clearly of the opinion your pose a high risk of causing harm to the public. There is a clear pattern which drives me to that conclusion,” said judge Henry