A VIOLENT rapist from Hindley who brutally attacked a schoolgirl and made her 11-year-old friend watch has been found hanged in his prison cell.

Raymond Neil Horrocks, aged 24, from Hindley, was discovered dead in his cell at Wakefield jail in West Yorkshire.

He was serving a 12-year jail term after being convicted at Bolton Crown Court in February last year.

The victim's father said: "When I was first told he was dead I was happy but later after it hit me it brought everything back. I had to come home from work because I was so shellshocked.

"I had just managed to get over what he put my daughter through. At first I used to go to work and cry every day but I had just got to the point where it was no longer permanently on my mind.

"Now this. I don't really know what I feel at the moment -- there's no real emotion yet. There's not been enough time for it to sink in. I just feel numb."

Horrocks pounced on his 12-year-old victim and her friend as they played in a secluded field near Smallbrook Lane, Westhoughton on Sunday, July 14, 2002.

They spotted him hiding in a bush and ran away when he tried to talk to them.

He grabbed them and forced one of the girls to lie down in the grass. He then violently raped and abused her while making her friend stand and watch the horrific attack.

The trained joiner was about to rape her as well when the two girls managed to break free and ran for help.

The attack shocked the small community and led to a major manhunt.

It was due to the courage of the friends that Horrocks was caught and placed behind bars.

The girls, both from Westleigh, helped detectives compile a computer image of their attacker and his family spotted the similarity during a media witness appeal.

They took him to the police station where he was arrested and charged.

Horrocks admitted one count of rape at Bolton Crown Court. Jailing him, Judge Gillian Ruaux said: "You have pleaded guilty to a most heinous offence. Both these girls were strangers to you and it must have been a terrifying ordeal for both of them.

"The effect this offence has had on them must be severe."

At the time, the 12-year-old girl's parents spoke of how Horrocks had ruined their "bright and happy" daughter's life. Her father said: "You cannot get lower in society than him. My daughter does not like to go anywhere on her own now."

A Prison Service spokesman said: "Every death in custody is a tragedy, and we offer our sincere condolences to Mr Horrocks' family."

An investigation will be carried out by the coroner and the Prisons Ombudsman.