A former policemen who helped snare a man who throttled a woman with her dog lead fears he may have been searching for another victim just minutes after the terrifying attack.

Former constable Rod Robertson discovered a distraught and sobbing Rebecca Harford, 22, after Michael Wilkinson had attempted to strangle her as she walked her dog in a beauty spot at The Dell, Baildon.

Mr Robertson stayed in the area and spotted Wilkinson first lying down in the grass, then making his way towards another dog walker, a woman in her mid to late 30s.

“He was obviously looking for someone to attack,” said the 53-year-old neighbourhood warden. “He walked up to me and asked me for a pound. I said ‘I’ve got no money on me’ and he then walked back almost to where he was laying down.

“He stopped halfway there and seemed to pay particular attention to another female dog walker on the other side of the field. He started walking towards her. He may well have done something to that other woman but, luckily, could not get there in time.”

Mr Robertson, a former Buckingham Palace police officer, had been walking his Jack Russell with his wife at the time of the vicious attack on Miss Harford on May 1.

He said: “She came out of the footpath in a very distressed state sobbing and gulping for air. I saw the red marks across her neck. She said she had been attacked from behind, someone had wrapped a dog lead around her neck.”

She told a jury earlier this week that she had only survived because her pet collie dog, Riley, had bitten Wilkinson on the arm, causing him to run off. Mr Robertson later recognised Wilkinson as her attacker from the description she had given, called police and waited at the scene until they arrived to arrest him.

The jury at Leeds Crown Court on Monday took just half an hour to decide Wilkinson, 44, had assaulted Miss Harford, causing her actual bodily harm and that he had attempted to strangle her.

Wilkinson of Walmer Villas, Manningham, Bradford, was described by a psychiatrist as a “real and on-going danger to the public, especially women.”

Judge Christopher Batty made a hospital order under the mental Health Act to detain Wilkinson in a secure hospital.

Mr Robertson, of Baildon, said: “I am very pleased for my wife, daughter or any of our neighbours, this threat has now been removed. People can now walk their dogs there in peace and tranquillity.”