Teen gets life for teacher's rape

A man who admitted raping a teacher at knifepoint has been sentenced to life imprisonment.

The Old Bailey heard Lance Smit, 18, from south west London, woke the 29-year-old at 2am on 13 June 2003, after climbing a drainpipe to break in.

He later attacked five other women, one of whom was pregnant, during a string of robberies.

Smit received three years, to run concurrently, for admitting other offences including false imprisonment.

The rape victim had been staying at a friend's house when the attack took place.

It's hard to think of a worse experience for a young woman being woken up late at night to find a man in her bedroom with a knife who then proceeds to rape her Judge Jeremy Roberts

< Smit, from Tooting, told the court he had gone to the house to carry out a burglary.

Before raping the woman he told her he would kill her if she resisted and held the knife to her throat.

After the rape he took £10 from her before collecting his boots from the garden and leaving.

The four other attacks took place in the Tooting Bec and Tooting Common areas, in south west London, between August and October last year.

Smit was arrested in the street by police who recognised his description.

Judge Jeremy Roberts told Smit, who was 17 at the time of the rape: "You have pleaded guilty to a catalogue of exceptionally serious offences.

"The rape in particular must have been an appalling experiences - it's hard to think of a worse experience for a young woman being woken up late at night to find a man in her bedroom with a knife who then proceeds to rape her."