A rapist who attacked a 45-year-old woman as she walked to her boyfriend’s house late at night has been jailed for six years.

Achim Ferar, 22, approached the victim in a secluded street off Harlington Road East, Feltham, as she returned from a night out.

He asked if she was lost and offered to walk her back to the main road - but as the woman followed him she realised he was leading her down a cul-de-sac.

She tried to leave but Ferar pushed her to the ground and raped her before fleeing with her mobile phone. Police experts analysed phone records and found a call to a Romanian number shortly after the attack.

Ferar, of Vernon Road, Feltham, was sentenced at Isleworth Crown Court on Monday after pleading guilty to one count of rape, two counts of attempted rape, assault by penetration and theft.

Detective Constable Elliot Toms, who led the investigation, said: "I am satisfied with today's sentencing and hope that the victim can now take some comfort from the fact that this man is in prison, the effect of this incident on her has been life changing.

"I also hope this case gives anyone who has been a victim of rape the courage to come forward and report it to police so that it can be investigated thoroughly."

The court heard that the woman, who can not be identified for legal reasons, took a wrong turn as she walked in the early hours of Sunday, November 23, last year, before Ferar appeared in front of her.

She managed to make her way home following the attack where she rang the police.

Officers arrested Ferar in January 2009, but he denied the rape in a police interview, saying he had been in the area but was at a bus stop where two men sold him the mobile phone.

But police forensic experts discovered his DNA was an exact match with samples taken from the victim.