A rapist who attacked a woman after offering her a lift home from a Margate nightclub, then months later raped another woman while working as a hospital care assistant, has been jailed.

John Mendy, 33, of Sandwich Road, Cliffsend, Ramsgate, admitted both rapes and was given an indeterminate term for public protection at Canterbury Crown Court on Friday (October 10).

He will serve four and a half years in prison before he will be eligible for parole and will be deported back to his native the Gambia when he is released.

Deborah Charles, prosecuting, said that in August the first woman had been talking to Mendy in the DV8 nightclub and accepted his offer of a lift home.

He drove her to a car park where he pinned her down in the passenger seat and raped her.

The second victim was a patient at St Martin’s Hospital in Canterbury where she was being treated for depression. Mendy worked as a care assistant and was on the night shift monitoring the woman.

They danced in her room and kissed before he raped her. He left the room afterwards and sat outside her room until the end of the shift.

Mendy was arrested in November after the second rape and police were able to match DNA samples with the first victim.

Supt Chris Hogben of Kent Police said: “This was a very serious breach of trust with an employee of the hospital committing a serious offence against a vulnerable patient.

“The sentence passed today reflects the seriousness of both offences that this man has committed.

“I would like to pay tribute to the victims in these cases. Without their bravery in coming forward to give evidence, we’re unlikey to have been able to secure such a positive conviction for a man who poses a serious risk to women.”