A RAPIST who beat and attacked a woman before she escaped and was found collapsed on a dual carriageway has been warned he faces a lengthy jail sentence.

After three days of deliberation at Bolton Crown Court a jury found 23-year-old Lukas Slusarczyk guilty of raping the 29-year-old woman in woods at Crompton Lodges on April 2.

His co-accused, 36-year-old Krystian Bielon, was found not guilty.

But trial judge Richard Gioserano is now demanding an explanation from the prosecution about a crime scene investigator's error which led to a two-day delay in the middle of the case.

Investigators had gathered items from the scene of the rape, but failed to identify a piece of torn cloth as the victim's knickers which had been ripped from her during the attack.

The omission only came to light when the woman was giving evidence in the witness box and, looking at photographs of the collected items, identified her underwear.

The trial was halted for two days while DNA analysis was carried out on the garment.

"It was an important part of the investigation to have identified they were hers," said Judge Gioserano.

"I want a written explanation within 21 days of how that possibly could have come about and not been detected throughout the whole of the investigation."

Bielon, of Cawdor Street, Farnworth, and Slusarczyk, of no fixed address, showed no emotion as the foreman of the jury announced their verdicts.

Judge Gioserano warned Slusarczyk that he faces a lengthy term in jail, but sentencing has been adjourned until October 21 to allow a report to be prepared assessing his risk to the public and whether an extended sentence should be imposed on him.

"You have been convicted by the jury of this most serious offence of rape and a lengthy prison sentence is inevitable," Judge Gioserano told Slusarczyk before he was taken down to the cells.

During a two-week trial the court heard how the victim, a self-confessed alcoholic, had clawed her way up a muddy embankment and collaspsed between lanes of the St Peter's Way carriageway.

The woman, who was battered and bruised, was found by passing motorists.

She told the court how she met the three Polish-born men, Bielon, Slusarczyk and Slusarczyk's younger brother Piotr, outside the Shakespeare pub, Farnworth and went with them to the Premier shop in Bolton Road where Bielon bought a bottle of vodka and bottle of coke.

As darkness fell she went to secluded woods off Hall Lane, Moses Gate, to drink the alcohol.

But she told the court how she was then hit over the head with a log and raped.

The woman claimed both heavily tattooed Bielon and Slusarczyk raped her, while Piotr took no part in the attack.

She said she played dead and took an opportunity to escape whilst Piotr was walking away and the others went after him to try and persuade him to return.

"They simply did not expect her to by physically able to get up and run — but get up and run she did," Michael Maher, prosecuting, told the jury.

"I was scared for my life," the woman said.

Slusarczyk admitted he had had sex with the woman, but claimed it had been consensual, whilst Bielon told the court he had left the woods earlier after the woman rejected his attempts to kiss her.

The discovery of the woman lying on the southbound carriageway of the A666 by horrified motorists sparked a major police investigation.

The woman's hands and clothing were covered in mud, her jaw and cheek were swollen and her body was covered in scratches and bruises.

A JD sports bag she had been carrying and its spilled contents were later found in the woods along with an empty vodka bottle, a rag later identified as her knickers and her mobile phone, which had been dropped between two logs during the attack.

Police issued CCTV footage of the victim at the shop she had visited earlier with the three men and made an appeal through the Bolton News and social media.

Two days later Bielon handed himself into police and after 10 days Slusarczyk was also arrested.

A spokesperson for the Crown Prosecution Service said: "The CPS are aware of the judge’s comments and, as requested, we will be looking into the matter and providing a report directly to the court in due course."

A spokeswoman for Greater Manchester Police added: “We are aware of the order from the judge and will now be looking into this matter. It would be inappropriate for us to comment further at this time.”