Man jailed for raping pensioner

Laing was freed from prison just days before the attack

A man who tortured and raped an 85-year-old woman after breaking into her home has been jailed for life.

Damian Laing, 22, who had 30 previous convictions, carried out the attack in Bolton, Greater Manchester, days after being released from prison last June.

Bolton Crown Court heard he used a vegetable knife to sexually abuse and stab the woman before raping her.

He admitted rape, robbery, two serious sexual assaults and unlawful wounding at a previous hearing.

The court heard Laing was freed from remand and given a community order for theft just six days before he carried out the attack.

During the hour-long ordeal the pensioner thought she was about to die, as drink and drug abuser Laing attacked her.

You committed offences which were truly sickening Judge William Morris

After inflicting at least 41 separate injuries he ransacked her home and ripped wedding rings from her fingers.

The pensioner was later found wandering the street outside her home, barefoot, semi-naked, bruised and bleeding all over her body.

The court heard how Laing then pawned the rings for £30 in order to buy a crate of lager.

He was arrested last July after DNA from the crime scene matched his profile.

Jailing him for life, with a minimum term of seven years before being eligible for parole, Judge William Morris said: "You subjected an 85-year-old lady to a truly dreadful ordeal. You committed offences which were truly sickening.

"The reality is that as you sexually assaulted her you also physically tortured her while you were in her house."

Judge Morris also ordered him to sign the sex offenders register for life.

Psychiatrists said he should not be treated in hospital but he has an anti-social personality disorder, showing no remorse for his crimes or concern for victims.

He is categorised at being at "very high" risk of harming women or elderly people in the future.