A DRINK and drug-fuelled teenager who raped a terrified girl in woods has been locked up for six years.

Stephen Smith, 19, rained blows down on his victim as he attacked her at Bowes Wood, New Ash Green, near Gravesend, last August.

Describing it as every woman’s worst fear, Judge Philip Statman said the young father had taken a “devastating cocktail” and lost all self-control.

The rapist was told that he would have to serve 10 years, but the judge reconsidered the sentence and reduced it to six years the next day.

Maidstone Crown Court heard the teenage victim had been out drinking with friends when Smith took her into the woods and started punching her in the face.

He threw her to the ground and repeatedly raped her. She screamed and was punched again.

Eleanor Laws, prosecuting, said a woman returning home from a night out could hear the girl screaming out “No” and “Please help me”, as well as a whacking sound.

The woman called the police and the attack continued for a further 15 minutes until two officers arrived. Smith, then 18, was found hiding behind a hedge. He was bare-chested and his trousers were down.

The victim was naked below the waist and was not wearing any shoes. Her left eye was bruised and swollen and one of her ears was bleeding.

Smith, of no fixed address, at first denied raping or assaulting the girl and claimed that sex was by consent but, Miss Laws said, he had scratch marks which were clear signs of resistance. He eventually admitted rape and called himself an “animal”.

Claire Drury, defending, said Smith, whose girlfriend was in court, made a stupid decision on the spur of the moment after taking a heady mix of alcohol and drugs.

“He acted in a way which is very much a one-off,” said Miss Drury. “He talks about being disgusted with himself. He is now a very different young man.”

Judge Philip Statman said: “This must be any woman’s worst fear – raped at night in a wooded area.

“Because of that, she is understandably finding it difficult to come to terms with what you did to her. This offence is very serious indeed.”

The judge recommended that Smith, who will remain on the sex offenders’ register for life, be given treatment, including anger management while in custody.

He added that he hoped the six-year sentence would mean “some form of closure” for the victim.

Smith is expected to serve half of his sentence, less two months in custody on remand.

He will begin serving in a young offenders’ institution and switch to a prison when he turns 21.