A PSYCHOTIC businessman who at night became a sexual predator, prowling the streets in search of women to rape, has been jailed for life.

Shaun Greenwood, 42, who bought property abroad to let, appeared to be a respectable family man but committed a series of sex attacks in Lancashire towns.

He admitted raping three young women in Great Harwood, Nelson and Burnley between 2002 and 2005, but police suspect that he committed many more offences, dating back to 1998.

Preston Crown Court was told that Greenwood, who was a parent-governor at his daughter’s school, revealed himself to be a violent and indiscriminate sexual attacker, a psychotic narcissist who saw his victims as “trophies”.

In January 2002 Greenwood, of Burnley, decided to attack an 18-year-old woman. After hiding in her back garden and watching her undress, he called at the house posing as a double-glazing salesman then forced his way in.

The victim, who said that she subsequently tried to kill herself because she felt so “cheap and dirty”, recalled his quiet commands.

Louise Blackwell, QC, for the prosecution, said: “She was terrified, especially as he talked in a calm voice and did not feel the need to shout.” Four years later, the victim was still suffering panic attacks and feared that most men were likely to attack her.

Three years after that attack, Greenwood kidnapped a 23-year-old mother. He bundled her into his red Volvo after surprising her as she was putting the key in her front door. He drove to a secluded spot near Nelson and raped her with his hands around her throat.

The court was told that the woman, a social worker, pleaded with him to let her go but he refused, telling her how much he was enjoying the attack. Several of her teeth were broken when Greenwood eventually threw her, naked, into the road from his car.

In February last year Greenwood attacked an 18-year-old criminology student. He drove her to an industrial estate and raped her. After the attack, the victim’s mother was woken up at home by her daughter’s hysterical wailing.

Detectives traced Greenwood after he used a mobile telephone stolen from one of his victims to contact a 13-year-old girl in Scotland for sex. DNA linked him to the three attacks.

Sentencing him to life imprisonment, Judge Edward Slinger told Greenwood: “All these women had worthwhile futures wrecked by you. It was a cold, calculated manner in which you identified the women. What we have heard in court is horrific but it cannot begin to approach the horror and terror of the events of those three nights.”

After the hearing, Detective Sergeant Graham Gallagher, of Lancashire police, said: “He raped and brutalised three strangers. Shaun Greenwood is a real-life Jekyll and Hyde character. He portrayed himself as a respectable businessman during the day but at night he was a violent and indiscriminate sexual predator patrolling the streets looking for vulnerable females.

“He brought untold misery to his innocent female victims who, after being subjected to horrific and depraved sexual attacks, were left to try to rebuild their lives.”

However, Sergeant Gallagher expressed concern that Greenwood, could be released on parole in only 7½ years. His tariff has been set at 18 years, which means he could be released after 9 years — 17 months of which he has already served on remand. “He will still be sexually active when he is released, if he is released at the first opportunity,” the officer said. “This is not a good result.”

One of Greenwood’s victims, now aged 23, said: “It is terrifying to think that he could be out in seven years. It is no time. He will not even be 50 years old.”

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