A "MONSTER" carried out a sickening New Year's Day sex attack on a young girl just hours after another serious sex assault on a woman in the same Gwent town.

At Cardiff Crown Court today, Darren Rose, 21, of Duke Street, Abertillery, admitted committing the offences on a girl aged under six and on a 31-year-old woman.

Outisde the court, the grandfather of the little girl branded Rose "a monster".

He told the Argus: "It was an horrific attack on my granddaughter which has caused such pain and distress to her and to my family.

"I hope they bang him up and throw away the key when he is sentenced."

He said: "It has been horrendous ordeal for us all. We are hoping that because of her young age, she will be able to get over it."

But the grandfather said the attack had had a devastating effect on her: "She's very different to how she was. She has become withdrawn and she always used to come running to me.

Now she won't do that. Sometimes, out of the blue, she will start talking about what happened to her.

"She has also been taking medication to sleep at night since it happened."

On New Year's Eve, the day before abusing the little girl, Rose pounced on a woman as she made her way home in the town during an early evening attack.

A manhunt was launched and police issued an efit and an appeal for information was published in the Argus.

They said the woman's ordeal could have been far worse had she not bravely fought back against her assailant by clawing at his face which forced him to flee.

A Gwent Police spokesman at the time described it as a "frightening" attack.

As a result of the woman fighting back Rose had scratch marks on his nose, cheek and forehead which were visible when he appeared in court just days later after his arrest for the attack on the little girl.

Rose pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting the girl by penetration and sexual assault on the woman.

Sentence was adjourned until next month and Rose was remanded in custody.