A PENSIONER landlord was jailed for eight years yesterday after he was convicted of raping a woman three times in a morning.

Widower Barry Taylor, 67, struck the 30-year-old with a belt to force her to perform sex acts which, he told police, he was unaware were now rapes under new laws.

Taylor said she was one of several woman who provided sexual services for him and he rewarded them with money.

But the jury was shown police photographs of bruises on her thighs, stomach, back and legs where he hit her with a studded belt.

Judge Leslie Spittle also ordered Taylor to register as a sex offender for life, and he banned him from any future contact with the victim.

Taylor, who listened to the case in the dock through a hard-of-hearing loop set, remained impassive at the verdicts. But his girlfriend wept in the public gallery and she rounded on a police officer saying: "He'll die in prison."

The judge told Taylor: "This was a course of rape perpetrated upon her despite her protestations. You have no credit attached to you. You disputed this throughout."

A Cleveland Police spokeswoman said last night: "This will send out a message to all women that police will do anything in their powers to take evidence through the justice system, and we are particularly pleased with the result."

Taylor, of Lealholm Road, Hartlepool, was found guilty of three charges of oral rape and actual bodily harm assault. He was cleared of sexual assault by urinating upon her.