A “DANGEROUS” sex offender has been locked up for 16 years for a catalogue of offences that included him threatening to rape a woman at knifepoint.

Joshua Lovering, 20, from Cwmbran committed offences against three different young victims, prosecutor Ruth Smith told Cardiff Crown Court.

He had terrified one of them when they were staying at a Newport hotel after they’d been drinking in Pontypool Park and put a pillow over her mouth as she screamed.

The Recorder of Cardiff Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke told Lovering: “You threatened her with a Stanley knife. Understandably she was terrified.

“You told her you were going to have sex ‘whether you want it or not’.

“It was a threat of rape.”

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A similar incident occurred at a Cardiff hotel with another woman who felt he was “keeping her hostage”.

She made a victim impact statement in which she said: “I thought he was going to seriously hurt me – I was scared for my life.

“I’ve had nightmares about him and flashbacks. He is a danger to women.”

In the third set of offences the defendant sexually assaulted a woman after getting into her flat uninvited.

She said in her victim impact statement: It was so traumatising. I still feel on edge and keep my doors locked all the time.

“I feel unsafe in my own home.

“I couldn’t sleep for weeks afterwards. I feel drained and exhausted.”

This last offence happened in the Bridgend area.

Lovering pleaded guilty to affray, assault by penetration, sexual assault and threatening a person with a knife in a private place.

He had a previous conviction for assault occasioning actual bodily harm and possession of a bladed article in public.

These offences were committed against a 16-year-old girl after she had turned down his sexual advances at a canal at Two Locks in Cwmbran.

Jeffrey Jones representing Lovering told Cardiff Crown Court his client suffered from a mental disorder and asked for his young age to be taken into consideration.

The judge said she regarded the defendant as a “dangerous” offender and he was locked up for an extended period of 16 years.

He will have to serve two-thirds of a 12-year sentence before being eligible for parole and an extended period of four years on licence.

Lovering will have to register as a sex offender for life.