Serial criminal who got into child's bed walks away free

Lee Zipfel, 32, walked free from Hull Crown Court after a jury cleared him of trespassing with intent to commit sexual assault and sexual assault on a child.

Zipfel, from Beverley, targeted the girl's mother after seeing her collect her child from a primary school in the town.

At 2am, he scaled the roof of her Beverley home, climbed through a window and got into bed with her young daughter. He put his arm around the girl and sniffed her hair, before trying to find her mother.

When he heard the mother's boyfriend in the house, Zipfel ran and hid downstairs, where the terrified family found him. He was later arrested.

Zipfel told the court he broke into the home in the hope the mother would give him a bed and consent to sex, despite not even knowing her name.

He had previously offered to plead guilty to burglary with intent to steal, but this was not accepted by the Crown Prosecution Service. However, the jury were not told of his previous convictions for 49 offences, including burglary, robbery and indecent assault.

Judge Roger Thorn QC said: "He seems to think it is OK to climb through people's windows to find a bed for the night.

"He has done it on this occasion with absolutely no regret, it seems. It is on his own account that he can walk into people's houses and get into bed with whoever might be there.

"It cannot be allowed to continue. It is a risk I'm concerned about."

He told Zipfel: "I do not go behind the verdict of the jury – you are discharged as a free man.

"In my view, this is a deeply unsatisfactory state of affairs with a person with your convictions.

"I have the gravest doubts as to what might happen in the future."

The woman whose house Zipfel broke into, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said: "We are appalled and devastated he has been able to walk free.

"We have gone through hell since this happened. It is disgusting what he has done. We want people to know what he has done.

"My little girl doesn't want to go back into her room. We are trying to move.

"It has been horrendous. He came into my house, he didn't want to rob me otherwise he would have taken something. I think he is dangerous."

Zipfel, who is originally from Bridlington, said he knew the mother from the school gate.

He said: "She was friendly, I didn't think she would mind."

His brother Robert Zipfel was given two life sentences in 2007 for abducting and raping a nine-year-old girl in a Bridlington cemetery.