A Thanet man has been jailed for raping a woman - while she was fast asleep in bed.

Robert Hoxey, 26, had been invited to stay with a family in Margate because he was homeless.

But Canterbury Crown Court heard that while the victim's partner was asleep in the lounge, Hoxey got into bed and carried out a sex attack.

Prosecutor Peter Forbes said the woman woke up without her pyjamas and in pain and realised she had been attacked when she went to the toilet.

Hoxey, who has no fixed address, later confessed to his victim he had raped her and pleaded with her not to report the incident.

He has now been jailed for six years after admitting rape and was told he would be on the sex offenders' register for life.

Neil Ross, defending, said it had been a "reckless and desperate act born out of sexual immaturity".

But Judge Heather Norton said the attack had been on "a vulnerable victim who had been in her own home, her own bed and fast asleep".

It was also revealed that some years ago he had been given police reprimands for indecent assaults on two children.

He was told he should now seek treatment inside prison to tackle his sexual problems.

The judge also made the sex attacker subject to an indefinite restraining order in regard to the victim.