A TYLDESLEY teenager has been jailed for raping a woman while holding an air pistol to her head.

Daniel Plater, aged 19, went to the home of his 18-year-old victim in the early hours of New Year's Day and told her, ’I have a surprise for you’ before producing a gun and pointing it at her.

He kicked her and hit her in the head with the weapon, adding: "You don't know the kind of thing I am capable of."

Plater also said to the terrified woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, that he did not feel like letting her live, said David Watson, prosecuting at Liverpool Crown Court this week.

He demanded that she perform a sex act on him, which she did while he was pointing the gun at her head.

During her ordeal he also tried to strangle her and set fire to the bottom of her pyjamas before she was eventually able to flee her home and tell the police.

Officers arrived and immediately arrested Plater, who was outside the address.

Following inquiries, it was established the victim had been celebrating the new year in Leigh town centre. When she got home, Plater called her and was abusive because she had not replied to a text he had sent her.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that the victim has been left ‘struggling to cope' with the aftermath of the incident and was worried about his release from jail.

Plater, of Rutland Road, Tyldesley, had pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to rape, assault and possessing an imitation firearm and was sentenced to 10-and-a-half years behind bars on Monday.

The court was told that Plater has no previous convictions.

Speaking after the sentencing, Det Con Dorothy Orr said: “This was a terrible act that has deeply affected the victim. For reasons only known to Plater himself, he was jealous and attempted to control her. “When she did not reply to his text, something inside him snapped and he decided to take his anger out in the most horrific of ways.

“Plater had clearly thought about what he was going to do by taking a gun. After the initial call to police, Plater was arrested and is now serving time behind bars for the violent and terrifying crime he committed on an innocent young woman.”