A violent rapist who subjected a woman to a prolonged sexual assault after he lured her back to his flat has been jailed.

Peter Winters was described as "cruel" and a "savage" by a judge as he was sentenced on Friday, with the court hearing how he had mercilessly assaulted the victim and told her he would make her dig her own grave in the woods.

Burnley Crown Court heard the opening and mitigation into the case of Winters, 20, last Friday (January 19), however sentencing was adjourned by a week due to time constraints and, as described by Judge Daniel Prowse, the “serious and complex nature of sentencing.”

The court heard a relay of the facts of the case from Judge Prowse on this occasion, where he described how when Winters was 17 he committed rape and sexual assault against his victim on June 29, 2021.

Before his trial last year, Winters had already pleaded guilty to offences of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and making indecent images of a child, relating to video of himself and the victim.

Judge Prowse said: “You dragged her into your flat and demanded to see her phone.

"She said no but you took it anyway. You threw it at a wall and began to physically attack her.

"You punched her arms and legs and she protected her head from your attack.

“You instructed her to take her clothes off and get in the shower. She said she did not want to but you made her.

"Once in the bathroom you resumed your physical attack. You punched and kicked her, threw bottles of toiletries at her, hit her with a broom. Your poured soap and toothpaste into her eyes.

“As you perpetrated this sustained and cruel attack on her, you continued to shout at her.

“Your cousin came to the house and you invited him to come and see what you had done. He refused and you returned to the bathroom.

“You said you were going to take her into the woods and make her dig her own grave. You then said you were going to have sex with her.

“She was, to use her own words, helpless.

“Once dressed, you said she could not leave until the morning, but you did eventually let her leave.

“This was a particularly cold and cruel type of very serious criminality.

“What you did to her has significantly impacted every aspect of her life.

“I find your age and immaturity had an impact on your offending.

“You have long struggled to regulate your emotions and have difficulties with communication. You have now been diagnosed with ADHD and autism.”

At the previous hearing, Jacob Dyer, mitigating, said this had been a “terrifying and humiliating ordeal” for the victim, adding there were features of “degradation”.

The victim also took to the stand in-person to read a victim personal statement.

In it, she said it had taken her a long time to process everything and the only way to get through it initially was to pretend Winters did not exist.

She said: “Going out at night has become a real problem for me. I should be able to go out anywhere, walk anywhere, without the worry of what might happen to me.

“I feel so angry and upset that I still feel I have no control over my own life.

“Relating to my peers is also very difficult because I have been through something so traumatic, it can be very lonely and isolating because they don’t seem to understand.

“I have regular nightmares in which people... hurt me and rape me. Due to this I have a fear of going to sleep.

“I worry so much about the same thing happening to someone else. I don’t want anyone else to go through what I have.”

Judge Prowse sentenced Winters, of Lodge Street, Accrington, to eight years in prison, with a four-year extended license period, giving a total 12-year extended sentence.

He said: “When you did not get what you wanted, you savagely beat her and you went on to sexually assault her and rape her in an attack that lasted some hours.

“You revelled in her discomfort and you went on, in effect, to say she deserved what she got.”

Winters will be subject to notification requirements for life and a restraining order was imposed between him and the victim.