A 20-YEAR-OLD dad has been sentenced to 10 years behind bars after being convicted of rape.

The Great Sankey man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was found guilty of two counts of rape against his ex-girlfriend and one count of false imprisonment.

Warrington Crown Court heard that the defendant picked up the then 18-year-old from St Helens on August 9 where she had been drinking in the town centre.

He offered to take her home but drove her to the flat they shared before splitting up a week earlier.

Mark Connor, prosecuting the defendant, said the pair’s relationship had been abusive since their child was born several years ago.

The victim claimed she was foced to perform a sex act and was ‘scared of a beating’. He then raped her in his bedroom.

The defendant claimed the sex was consensual but a jury convicted him at Chester Crown Court last Tuesday.

l The case began at Warrington Crown Court and was completed at Chester.