A RAPIST whose terrified victim fled his clutches twice, only for him to drag her back through the gravel and continue his attack has been jailed for 16 years.

Drug-crazed Shaun Elliott Paul, 25, raped the woman, who made desperate attempts to escape naked through a back garden, four times during two separate attacks.

Durham Crown Court heard he referred to a peacock tattoo on his arm, implying he was big and handsome with a huge sexual appetite.

During the first incident, in March 2013, the woman texted ‘help’ to a friend while she was forced to have sex with Paul, who stands 6ft 8ins tall and weighs 20 stones, out of fear of what he might do if she refused.

Paul struck again two months later, strangling the victim, making her strip naked and punching her in the face before brutally raping her.

The woman twice tried to flee, but Paul dragged her back, once by her hair. He raped her twice more before she escaped in a nightgown while he slept.

Prosecutor Robert Turton said: “She feared for her life.”

The woman suffered scratches, swelling, bruising and tenderness. “She was crying and in a terrible state,” Mr Turton said.

When Paul was arrested the next day, he claimed the sex was consensual.

He admitted assault causing actual bodily harm, but denied five charges of rape.

Following a trial, he was convicted of four rape offences and cleared of a fifth.

Judge Christopher Prince said Paul had acted in an “extremely arrogant” manner and “had a high opinion of himself” during the trial.

Stephen Constantine, mitigating, said Paul, formerly of Burnip Close, Easington Colliery, east Durham, had made progress during his time in prison and become a “listener” for fellow inmates to share their problems with.

Sentencing Paul, Judge Prince said: “This was a prolonged and sustained incident where there was additional humiliation.

“I take the view that there is to be a significant period in custody for all of these offences.”

As well as being sentenced to 16 years in prison, Paul will be on the sex offenders’ register for life and made the subject of a restraining order to protect his victim until further notice.