A sex attacker who stalked a string of women while on the run from a life sentence for beating a 92-year-old widow senseless is facing years behind bars.
Lee Cyrus, 48, launched his terrifying campaign of violence and exposure after he wandered out of North Sea Camp open prison in Boston, Lincolnshire.
Cyrus, also known as Ivan Leach, was jailed for life with a minimum of five years in 2005 after robbing the pensioner at her home in Preston, for just £12.
Cyrus sparked a nationwide manhunt after he absconded from the open prison in Boston, while on day release on October 9 last year.
He put on a balaclava and looked for victims at Boston Cemetery and Crematorium, before travelling by coach to Hampstead Heath, north London, Southwark Crown Court heard.
Last autumn, he held a woman at knife-point and was carrying a knife when he broke into an 81-year-old's home.
The fugitive was caught after a policeman saw him walking along Highgate Hill, north London, early on December 2 last year.
During his month-long trial at the court, he insisted police had simply "got the wrong man".
But a jury of four men and eight women found Cyrus guilty of five counts of exposure, wounding with intent, unlawful wounding, affray, aggravated burglary, robbery and burglary.
Adjourning sentence, Judge Deborah Taylor said: "It is a matter of grave concern the level of supervision in the community which was given to the defendant prior to his parole board hearing in this case."
Cyrus, of no fixed address, will be sentenced on Friday December 13.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article