A MAN who styled himself on soccer hero David Beckham was today starting a six year jail sentence for indecently assaulting women and girls as they slept.

Manchester United fan Leon Rushton, aged 27, from Little Hulton, became a serial sex offender, secretly filming the attacks with a camcorder.

Police believe he may have drugged some of his victims so they did not stir while they were being attacked.

Many of his victims did not even realise they had been assaulted until shown the tapes by police.

At Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester, Rushton, who was said to be obsessed with the England and Manchester United star, regularly changing his hairstyle to match the player and wearing sarongs to nightclubs, pleaded guilty to eight counts of indecent assault.

He also admitted one count of showing indecent photographs and 11 charges of taking indecent photographs of children.

Rushton, of Manchester Road West, Little Hulton, was placed on the sex offenders' register for life. He will also be on licence for three years following his release.

The court was told that Rushton's secret life as a Peeping Tom was only exposed when an ex-girlfriend came across a video of him molesting her in bed as she slept.

She complained to police who raided Rushton's home and found other tapes containing footage of hundreds of women and girls.

Rushton had followed young girls to and from school, focusing on their underwear, and had installed a two-way mirror in his bathroom so he could film women going to the toilet.

In total, four young women and three girls, one as young as five, were assaulted as they slept in bed.

Passing sentence, Judge Stuart Fish said: "You have pleaded guilty to a course of sexual offending which even judged by the catalogue of offences which come by this court daily is bizarre and unusual."

Speaking after the case, Det Sgt Joanne Rawlinson, of Eccles CID, said Rushton was becoming an increasing danger to society. "Making these videos had become Rushton's life and it was clear that he was becoming bolder and bolder as time went on," she said.

"None of his victims had the slightest idea of what he had done to them and, if the tapes had not been discovered, I am sure he would have carried on offending."

One victim, a 27-year-old whose seven-year-old daughter was also assaulted by Rushton, told how, on the surface, he was the perfect boyfriend.

"When police first told me what had happened I thought someone was playing a joke," she said. "Rushton was a guy that would have done anything for me and something of an ideal boyfriend to have.

"But he was also obsessed with David Beckham and would change his hairstyle every time Beckham changed his. It got a bit embarrassing, but I never realised what he was up to when I was asleep."

"When I watched the tapes I just broke down in tears -- I was mortified. Now I have constant nightmares about him."