A VIOLENT and obsessed stalker who raped a woman and left a friend with permanent brain damage after a horrific hammer attack was locked up for life today.

Anthony Graham - branded "a significant danger" by a judge at Teesside Crown Court - was told he will be freed only when it is safe to do so.

The 47-year-old, from Middlesbrough, was told by Judge Peter Bowers it was his "intense, insane jealousy" which sparked his murder-minded rampage

The court heard Graham suffered a brain tumour and had surgery in June 2012 - but an expert said it did not affect his behaviour.

During the brutal attacks last year, Graham told the woman he would kill her and bury her on the moors in a prepared grave.

He originally went on trial facing two counts of rape, false imprisonment, attempted murder and inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent.

After two juries were sworn and the rape victim's video-recorded interview with police played, Graham admitted two charges.

The victim told of her terror as she was snatched from her home, tied up and sexually attacked by "wild-eyed" Graham late at night in October last year.

He dragged the woman in her pyjamas, dressing gown and bare feet to his mother's bungalow in Redcar and threatened to murder her.

He told the "petrified" woman he would dump her body in a remote grave already dug by an accomplice he had paid £2,500.

Graham also lay in wait for the woman's friend - who he wrongly believed was her lover - and left him with brain damage after the hammer attack days later.

Caroline Goodwin, prosecuting, said Graham had a "fixation" or "obsession" with his victim, and spied on her for hours.

While on remand in prison, Graham was caught by a secret police recording boasting to his brother about the "cowardly" hammer attack.

The court heard how the male victim has a permanent brain injury, and will have lifelong problems understanding language and making himself understood.

He has epilepsy as a result of the attack, is in a wheelchair, is fed through a tube, needs constant nursing, and will never fully recover, said Miss Goodwin.

In an emotional impact statement, the man's son said: "My father was an intelligent and outgoing man, active and he loved life. As a result of this assault, he will require constant care and will never be the same person again.

"Although he did not die as a result of the attack, his life has essentially been taken away from him in any case.

"The change from what he used to be to what he is now is upsetting for the whole family. It is highly unlikely he will be able to look after himself."

The rape victim said in her statement that she feared she would be murdered during her ordeal, and now suffers flashbacks and panic attacks.

"I was taken against my will not knowing what was going to happen to me," she said. "At the time I was being raped, I was threatened that I would be buried in a hole on the moors.

"He just treated me like a piece of meat. I have been greatly affected by this crime and I feel I am at an all-time low in my life . . . Everyday life has changed."

Judge Bowers told Graham - jobless chef and dad-of-three the offences were "carried out with a ruthless determination" over a protracted period.

"The rape involved what can only be described as controlling, oppressive violence. It was a sustained attack. There is no doubt from what I have heard she was terrified."

The judge said of the hammer attack: "The attack was a cowardly ferocious attack, premeditated using a hammer, attacking him from behind when he was walking his dog, and then leaving him to stagger home with life-threatening injuries."

Robert Woodcock, QC, mitigating, said there was little he could say because of a failed attempt to have the pleas vacated, and Graham's continuing denial of the rape.

Graham, of Doxford Walk, Hemlington, admitted rape and causing grievous bodily harm with intent, and was told he will have to serve a minimum of ten years.

The judge said: "The Parole Board will only release you when they are satisfied you no longer pose a risk to the public."