A convicted sex attacker who raped his victim while bragging she was not his first was caged for at least 12 years and told he might never walk free.

Rory Griffin, 23, had been out of prison just 13 days after serving a five-year sentence for raping and indecently assaulting a teenager, when he preyed on his next victim.

Griffin, who was staying at the Felmores Bail Hostel in Pitsea, spotted the woman sitting on a bench in nearby Northlands park.

The victim, a 50-year-old married woman, was drinking vodka and orange and self-harming after becoming depressed when Griffin, who had been watching her from a distance, approached her at around 9.15pm on May 15 last year.

The two got talking and Griffin walked the woman to the nearby Watermill pub where he bought her a drink and called paramedics to look at her injuries.

After the woman was treated for minor cuts the pair walked back to the park where Griffin raped her.

Prosecutor Andrew Jackson told Chelmsford Crown Court: "Quite suddenly he asked the victim to sit down for a chat.

"As soon as they sat down he lunged at her, he put his left hand over her mouth and nose and grabbed her neck with his right hand.

"He told her to do as he said otherwise she would be killed."

Fearing for her life, the victim agreed to Griffin's demands and was raped and forced to perform a sex act.

Mr Jackson added: "During the rape he said to her you're not my first. I have done this to another young girl and I did it all night long. She did exactly what I told her to'."

The court heard how after the attack, the distraught woman ran to the nearby home of a relative who called police.

Griffin fled and was spotted the next morning by an off-duty police office who arrested him.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of rape at a hearing last August.

Mitigating barrister David Holborn told the court how Griffin pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and had suffered years of sexual abuse as a child.

Judge Peter Fenn branded Griffin "dangerous" and said: "It is quite clear to me that you are and will remain for some time a danger to women."

Griffin's supervision licence was revoked by the Home Secretary, which means he will not be considered for release until 2019.

Judge Fenn also handed him a public protection sentence with a minimum of five years, which will run concurrently and means Griffin will never be released while he is considered to be a danger to the public.

After the sentence, Griffin's victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said: "I am delighted with the efficiency of the police in apprehending the person responsible so quickly and the way the police handled the case on my behalf.

"I would like to thank the family liaison officer who looked after me. I am highly delighted with the sentence and feel I have had justice."