A man who sexually assaulted vulnerable women he lured back to his Norwich home has been jailed for 15 years.

Stephen Hammond, 59, was branded a “high risk” dangerous offender as he was sentenced for assaults on three women in 2016 and 2019.

Norwich Crown Court heard two of the women had been unconscious when he sexually assaulted them while on one occasion he had video recorded it.

Judge Antony Bate said the women, two aged 40 and one 51, were “particularly vulnerable” and had been living in sheltered housing with long histories of alcohol or drug abuse and mental health issues.

“It’s undeniable that the effects on these women are profound and long lasting,” he said.

Hammond, who worked as a carpenter but also rented out rooms as a landlord, invited them into his house in Dereham Road before taking advantage of them after they passed out from drink or drugs.

The court heard he had specially befriended vulnerable women in order to lure them back to his home.

Following a retrial he was found guilty in April of three charges of sexual assault by penetration, sexual assault after he groped the naked breasts of one of the women and voyeurism for recording of one of the attacks.

The court heard one of the women had been so traumatised by giving evidence in the trial that she had relapsed into alcohol abuse having previously managed to get sober.

Sally Hobson, mitigating, said Hammond had long friendships with some of the women and had sometimes provided them with money and food and “many times a place of safety, not one of abuse”.

She said insufficient evidence had been presented to the court to support suggestions that he had spiked the drinks of the women in order to assault them.

Sentencing him to an extended 15-year sentence, 12 years in prison and three years on licence, Judge Bate said the assaults were planned rather than opportunistic crimes.

“You knew where these women were to be found and you lured them back,” he told Hammond, who showed no emotion in the dock as he was sentenced.

He added: “You pose a high risk to the general public, specifically adult women.”