Burgess, Supreme Court heard yesterday.

Jamel Edward Harley Fray, who preyed on an eight-year-old girl, was described as a "time bomb waiting to explode''.

He was jailed for two years by Puisne Judge the Hon. Mr. Justice Ward, who said prison is the only place he can get the right treatment.

The heavily-built 19-year-old repeatedly tried to force oral sex on the girl.

The attacks came to light after he attacked a new victim, aged 15. She escaped and told her mother. Both girls lived near him in Pembroke.

Crown Counsel Mr. Brian Calhoun said a psychiatric report concluded Fray had "quite severe personality problems'' but did not appear to have a psychological illness.

Without naming Burgess, the psychopathic killer of German visitor Miss Antje Herkommer last year, Mr. Calhoun said there were similarities in the expert verdicts on both men.

Fray admitted forcibly and indecently assaulting his first victim, now 12, on numerous occasions between October 1988 and 1991. Most attacks involved attempted oral sex, but he also attempted intercourse, said Mr. Calhoun.

Fray also admitted indecent assault on the 15-year-old on July 17 last year.

He covered the girls' mouths with his hand to stop them screaming, the court heard. He told his first victim he would hurt her if she told anyone.

A social inquiry report said he viewed his offences as minor.

When Fray was about 10 he tried to take a knife to a child on a fishing trip, Mr. Calhoun added.

At the age of 12, he went through a period of making petrol bombs and starting fires.

His mother tried to get him help but he was belligerent. She believes her son does not pay attention to authority because his father did not assert authority over him, the court heard.

The social inquiry report had concluded Fray needed ongoing counselling if he was not to become a threat to society.

Fray had confessed: "I knew it was wrong but I just went on and kept doing it.'' Mr. Calhoun added: "If very serious attention is not paid at this point, then the public would be in great danger.'' Fray's lawyer, Mr. Frederick Wade MP, said doing things when we knew they were wrong was a failing of all of us.

Apparently contrasting Fray with Burgess, Mr. Wade said his client was different.

He had shown remorse, apologising to his victims.

And he had not used all the force available to him.

"Here we have a really tragic case, of which Bermuda is having too many. I imagine you had a very sensitive young man who was unable to accept the breakdown of his family and didn't get very much understanding and sensitivity, at least from his father, who admits to me he was not in a sense as listening or as communicative as he ought to have been.'' Mr. Wade asked for a "carrot and stick'' approach to Fray, with a suspended sentence and intensive counselling.

Jail would probably make him more bitter and more defiant, he said. Mr.

Justice Ward told Mr. Wade that drug smuggler Hubert Spence, sentenced by him earlier in the day, had been birched the first time he got into trouble.

"The last time he came here he got a whipping and stayed away for 38 years.'' Mr. Wade replied: "I can find you other cases where the reverse is true, where people get a whipping and become defiant and hardened criminals.'' Fray told the judge: "I'm very sorry that all this happened. If possible could you be as lenient as possible, your honour. I'm sorry about everything.''