A fugitive sex attacker has been jailed after his brave victim confronted him in court and told him ‘You have ruined my life’.

Friday Ugurou tried to rape the 12-year-old girl while visiting her home in Axminster in November 2017 but vanished after being arrested and released under investigation by police.

The girl suffered severe psychological trauma as a result of his attack and a six-year wait for justice that blighted her adolescence and led her to drug abuse, self-harm and suicide attempts.

A judge at Exeter Crown Court praised her courage after she confronted Ugurou in the dock as she read a harrowing victim personal statement. She said : “It was like a bomb that went off in my life. It messed up my whole world. I did not think I would make it past 14.”

Asked what she wanted to say to Ugurou, she said: “You have ruined my life. I just want to know why you did it. You should never have been able to get away with what you did.”

Ugurou was in Britain illegally at the time he attacked the girl, having arrived from Nigeria on a visitor’s visa and overstayed. The Home Office had given him a notice to leave three years before he carried out the attack.

He travelled to Axminster by train on the night of the attack and assaulted the girl in an upstairs bedroom while her mother was cooking downstairs. The girl got away from him before he completed the rape and ran down to raise the alarm.

Forensic scientists found his DNA on the inside of her knickers but he denied the offence, claiming it had been planted in an elaborate plot to frame him. Judge David Evans described that at ludicrous and preposterous.

Ugurou, aged 50, previously of Pinhoe Road, Exeter, but now of no fixed address, denied attempted rape but was found guilty by the jury at his trial in February. He was jailed for nine years, six months with a one-year extended licence by Judge Evans. Ugurou will be deported when he ends his sentence.

He told him his decision to abscond had caused untold psychological damage to the victim, who had to wait more than six years to receive justice.

He told Ugurou: “I have heard her personal statement in which she sets out clearly and eloquently how what you did to her has affected her very profoundly and severely. Her whole adolescence was affected by what you did and your subsequent disappearance.

“She has shown great courage and fortitude in seeing this case through. You undoubtedly caused severe psychological harm.”

Mr Barry White, defending, said Ugurou had taken advantage of being alone with the girl and his offence was opportunistic rather than predatory. He said he had disappeared because he was worried about being deported rather to evade justice.

Following the sentencing, DC Jonathan Stephens from the Local Safeguarding Investigation Team said: “I welcome the result and I am grateful for the courage and resilience shown by the victim and witnesses in this case, and for supporting this investigation over a protracted period of time.

“I hope this case reassures the community how seriously the police take reports of child sexual offences and gives people the courage to come forward in future.”