A JUDGE has jailed a Haslingden man for five years after he was convicted of carrying out a rape on New Year’s Day 2016.

Thirty-six year-old Darren Sandbach was found guilty of the sex attack, on a 34-year-old woman, following a six-day trial at Burnley Crown Court by a majority verdict.

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The victim’s ordeal was said to have lasted up to half an hour, the court heard.

Prosecutor Alaric Bassano said Sandbach had a long criminal record for offences including burglary, affray and being drunk and disorderly, and had served relatively short prison sentences previously.

His last recorded conviction was in March 2016, for possession of an airgun, for which he was given a community order.

Keith Harrison, defending, told the court his client “did not have an extensive record” for violent offending.

He said: “The name of the offence will cause a great deal of pain for him from now on. This is not within his nature.”

Jailing him, Judge Beverly Lunt, said: “This night you were really very, very drunk and it is clear that you still don’t have the clearest recollection of what went on.”

But Judge Lunt said that his state of intoxication on the night in question could not serve as an excuse for what occurred, though she accepted it was out of character for him.

The judge told him he was would be subject to notification requirements, as a convicted sex offender, where he will have to keep the police informed regarding his home address, for an indefinite period.

Judge Lunt also imposed a five-year restraining order, preventing any contact with the victim in the case.

Sandbach was also found not guilty of a second rape offence involving the same victim.