Sex offender tried ramming a man’s dog with a unicycle

A convicted sex offender attempted to run into a man’s dog with a unicycle – before threatening them both with a knife.

Laurence Marsden, of Cowes, pleaded guilty to criminal damage to a van tyre and causing harassment, distress and alarm on October 11, the Isle of Wight County Press reported.

A man had been walking his dog around 5.30pm when Marsden, 25, who was walking his dog on a unicycle, tried to ram into the other man’s dog.

He then began shouting at the dog’s owner, and gestured with his fingers before riding away.

Marsden sat on a nearby bench when the dog owner walked towards him to talk about the incident, but Marsden ignored him with headphones on, Isle of Wight Magistrate’s Court heard.

The dog owner lifted Marsden’s headphones in an attempt to speak to him, at which point Marsden pulled out a pen knife and took a photo of the man.

The man returned to his van, where he heard a loud bang and saw Marsden running away. One of his tyres had been deflated.

Marsden admitted to pulling out a knife to ‘scare’ the dog owner and puncturing the tyre, saying he was in fear of ‘being chased’.

Last year, Marsden was convicted of a sex attack on a woman and indecent acts. He was given an 18-month suspended order.

Defending counsel Tom Cooke said Marsden was ‘deeply embarrassed’, and cited a ‘complicated diagnosis of his mental health issues’.

Marsden narrowly avoided a jail sentence, with magistrate’s warning Marsden he was ‘very close’ to serving jail time.

He was given a one year probation order and must pay £200 to the dog walker.

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