A SEX attacker from Abergavenny has been sent to high-security psychiatric hospital Broadmoor for an assault on a terrified teenaged guest at a Bed and Breakfast.

Perry Smith befriended the 18-year-old, who was staying in a different room at the guest house in Devon, and persuaded her to let him watch television with her.

She dozed off and woke up to find her jeans had been pulled down and he was sexually assaulting her. He went on to try to have sex with her as she tried to fight him off.

The girl fled her room and locked herself in a bathroom before calling for help. She is still suffering nightmares and flashbacks more than two years after the ordeal.

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The victim had no idea that Smith was already a registered sex offender with a history of severe mental illness and convictions for exposure and sexual assault.

Smith, from Abergavenny, has a history of mental illness and carried out the attack when he had stopped taking anti-psychotic medication.

Police in South Wales issued an appeal to find him after he went missing from Llanarth Court Hospital in Raglan in 2015.

He moved to Devon after completing a jail sentence for offences in Wales, which was extended when he sexually assaulted two female officers at Cardiff Prison.

Smith, aged 27, admitted attempted rape and two counts of assault by penetration and was ordered to be detained indefinitely at Broadmoor special hospital.

Judge Timothy Rose imposed a restriction order at Exeter Crown Court, which means he cannot be released without the approval of the justice secretary.

He told him: “The impact of your behaviour on your victim has been severe and caused her immense anguish and harm, which she has suffered ever since.

“You would normally receive a significant prison sentence but the position in your case is different because of your long-standing mental health problems.”

Mr Richard Crabb, prosecuting, said Smith met the victim when she was staying at the same B&B in Okehampton in January 2018.

He invited himself into her room at 6pm one evening and they had been watching television while sitting on opposite sides of the double bed.

She fell asleep and woke up to find he had partially removed her jeans and was touching her sexually. He tried to have sex with her but she struggled while telling him to stop and then sought refuge in a bathroom.

Smith initially claimed all the sexual activity was consensual but later pleaded guilty, telling a judge "I lied".

Lee Bremridge, defending, said medical reports made it clear that Smith’s paranoid schizophrenia was an important contributory factor to his offending.

He said two consultant psychiatrists had recommended that he should be treated in hospital rather than sent to prison.