Cocky Christopher Hatcher from Maidstone got more than he bargained for when he tried to rob a "vulnerable" teenage girl after stalking her.

As he pounced on Lois Moore intending to snatch her phone the feisty 19-year-old fought him off by grabbing his manhood.

After the pair fell backwards the 36-year-old masked robber fled empty-handed with his tail between his legs, Maidstone Crown Court heard.

The brave victim turned up to watch the strutting thug receive a SEVEN year extended jail sentence after he admitted attempted robbery in Maidstone on March 29 last year.

It was only after his arrest that the victim discovered he was a convicted kidnapper and sex attacker who was free because he had been released early from an eight-year extended sentence.

Hatcher was living at probation hostel at Fleming House in Maidstone and had been subject to a 9pm curfew. But the devious pervert lied to staff claiming he was in Margate and having difficulties in returning by train.

Prosecutor Bridget Todd told how he had been in the Muggleton Inn in Maidstone High Street where Ms Moore had spent the evening before walking home alone at 11.45pm.

The victim was unaware that Hatcher, who had been sending lewd texts to a friend about women in the pub, began stalking her as she spoke to a friend on her mobile phone.

In Bower Place he crept up behind her and placed both gloved hands around her mouth.

"It was the first time she knew he was there as she hadn't heard anyone or seen anyone. She decided to fight him off and hit him in the groin! She managed to break her fall and broke free before heading in the opposite direction still holding her phone," said Ms Todd.

Police arrested him at 2.30am the following day. Hatcher said he had been drinking vodka but forensic tests revealed DNA belonging to the victim on his jumper. He claimed he was planning to snatch his victim's phone which he intended to sell for cash to buy more booze.

The court heard how in 2014 the hooded sex fiend had carried out an attack on a terrified victim .

He had stalked a woman along the Royal Military Canal in Hythe at 7am before taking out a knife and frogmarching her to a secluded area where he threatened to kill her unless she undressed.

Judge Charles Gratwicke has now given Hatcher an immediate four-year jail term which he will start after serving the remainder of the earlier sentence. He will then be on license for another three years if and when he is released.

The judge said Hatcher must have spotted Ms Moore in the pub and then followed her along the Tonbridge Road before pouncing.

He told Hatcher: "It must have been a terrifying experience for her but she fought back, prising your hands from her face and grabbing you in the genital area causing you both to fall to the ground.

"Your texts show you are clearly someone prepared to use violence to achieve your ends. Your victim was a vulnerable woman out at night.

'It must have been a truly terrifying experience'

"The effects of your behaviour that night have had a marked impact on her. She is less socially confident and sleeping at night with her lights on." .

Hatcher was freed from the earlier sentence a month before the Maidstone attack. He was immediately taken back to prison on recall and was due to be released in July 2022.

Hatcher will have to serve two-thirds of the four-year prison term before being eligible for parole. As he swaggered out of the dock he refused to look at his victim who sat just feet away.

Det Con Ellen Cox of Kent Police's West Kent Vulnerability Investigation Team, said after the hearing: "This was a premeditated incident in which Hatcher identified a lone and vulnerable woman and then targeted her in a secluded area.

"She had no idea anyone had been following her and it must have been a truly terrifying experience.

"Thankfully the victim reacted quickly and instinctively, which was enough to scare her attacker away. She has shown tremendous courage and her detailed description of Hatcher enabled us to swiftly identity and arrest him."

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