David Newton, 55, admitted charges of attempted murder, rape, attempted rape and false imprisonment when he appeared before Bradford Crown Court via videolink from prison.

Father-of-four Newton was arrested earlier this year after a huge hunt sparked by the attack on the 52-year-old woman on Ilkley Moor in June 2006.

His victim was walking her dog when she was knocked to the ground and punched in the face repeatedly until she lost consciousness.

When the woman came round, she was being strangled and lost consciousness again, police have said.

Detectives at the time called her ordeal an "horrific attack".

Officers investigating the incident on the moor later found the attacker was the same man who raped a 16-year-old girl at knifepoint in Halton, Leeds in 1997 and forced her brother to lie in bushes nearby.

The attack happened as the pair searched for frogspawn.

Newton, of Knottingley, West Yorkshire, was arrested in June in the Hayle area of Cornwall following a nationwide manhunt and after police took the unusual step of naming him as a suspect.

Today, he admitted raping the girl and the false imprisonment of her brother.

He also admitted attempting to murder and rape the woman on Ilkley Moor.

No details of the incidents were outlined in court today.

Newton was remanded in custody and will be sentenced at Bradford Crown Court on October 24.