A dangerous sex offender is today starting a life jail sentence after terrorising three women in a crime rampage in rural Norfolk.

Kristof Lowery, 40, brutally raped a woman, then tried rape a teenager on an isolated country lane and then attacked another woman, who managed to scream and frighten him off.

Lowery finally handed himself in to police, confessing to his sex crimes.

Lindsay Cox, prosecuting at Norwich Crown Court, said Lowery raped the first victim, a 24 year-old woman, after inviting her back to his home in Cromer for a cigarette.

When she turned down his advances, he threatened her with a pair of scissors.

Mr Cox said: 'He grabbed some scissors and held them to her eyes.'

He threatened to 'cut her eyes out' if she did not co-operate and then raped her.

Mr Cox said that Lowery refused to let the woman leave his home and tied her hands behind her back with a belt and made her lie down with him.

He eventually allowed her to go after warning her not to report the crime as he claimed his brother was a policeman and no one would believe her.

Mr Cox said after making her escape the victim raised the alarm, but by then Lowery had already fled the scene on his scooter.

Mr Cox said that later that day he met a schoolgirl, who was cycling on her own on an isolated road, near Knapton.

He pretended his scooter had broken down and got the victim to stop and help him;

'When she bent down to look at the scooter he grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her towards the undergrowth. She tried to struggle and fight him off and tried to get away.'

He then attempted to rape her. Mr Cox said he put his hand over her mouth to stop her screaming, but when she told him she was 16 he apologised to her and fled the scene.

Mr Cox said the girl was able to get the number plate of his scooter, which she took down on her phone and reported the attack to police.

Before handing himself in, Lowery attacked his third victim in a layby at Aylsham, but she managed to scream and frighten him off.

Mr Cox said after his arrest police found a disturbing hand-written note from Lowery on how to chat up women in which he said: 'When a woman says no, it does not always mean no.'

The court heard that Lowery had previous convictions for sex offences including being jailed for 12 years in 2000 for indecent assault and rape of a woman he dragged from a footpath in Newcastle.

Lowery, of Holt Road, Cromer, admitted rape, attempted rape and common assault on August 1 this year.

Jailing him for life, Judge Stephen Holt said Lowery posed a 'high risk' of harm to women.

Lowery handed in a letter to the judge on prison notepaper apologising to the victims and Judge Holt accepted he was remorseful but said: 'You acknowledge that you are dangerous.'

He said that he must serve seven years, 247 days, before he is considered for parole and also must be on the sex offender's register for life.

Michael Clare, for Lowery, said he had not planned the sex attacks: 'It appears at the time the defendant could not help himself and was acting on impulse. It was not a campaign.'

He said Lowery deserved credit for his plea and said: 'He handed himself in that day.'