HAMID Erfani was this afternoon sentenced to six years in prison for raping a vulnerable woman in her own home in November 2012.

Erfani, a 34-year-old Iranian immigrant of Reading Street, Swindon, who arrived in this country in 2006, faces automatic deportation subject to a final decision by the Home Office.

Following a four-day trial at Swindon Crown Court last month, Judge Euan Ambrose passed sentence at Bristol Crown Court today as Erfani stood with an interpreter.

The court heard Erfani had ignored his victim's protests as he carried out the attack on a sofa in her living room.

He said: "I have considered the vulnerability of the victim, the knowledge you had of her vulnerability and the effect of the offence on her.

"In all the circumstances, this is a case so serious that only an immediate custodial sentence can be justified.

"In my judgement the appropriate sentence is six years in immediate custody."