A SEXUAL predator who raped a young woman after the victim said he molested her in a hot tub has been jailed.

Paul Woods, 53, followed the 22-year-old into a house and attacked her as she lay on a bed pretending to sleep.

The High Court in Edinburgh previously heard that the distraught woman fled wearing only a towel after she was subjected to the rape ordeal.

Woods, of Preston Crescent, Prestonpans, had denied assaulting and raping the woman in September 2019, but was found guilty of the crime last month by a majority verdict of the jury.

During the attack, he moved the woman onto her back and tapped her on the face before raping her. Woods later told police that he thought she was asleep.

Last month, judge Lord Tyre agreed to continue Woods' bail for the preparation of a background report on the first offender ahead of sentencing, as well as placing him on the sex offenders' register.

When he returned to court yesterday (Wednesday), Wood was sentenced to a four-year jail term.

Shared a hot tub

Previously, the court heard that the woman and Woods had been drinking and shared a hot tub with others at a house in an East Lothian town.

But the woman, who was wearing a swimsuit, said that he had touched her in the tub, leaving her shocked.

She left and went into the house from the garden, saying she was going to bed.

Woods followed her into the house and she thought that if she pretended she was sleeping he would leave her alone.

After the assault on her, the woman grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her and ran out. She was seen shaking and crying. She was still crying and wrapped in the towel when she was later seen by a police officer.

Woods was linked to the attack on the woman by DNA evidence that was recovered after the rape of the woman.

Advocate depute Derick Nelson told jurors at the trial that when all the pieces of evidence were put together they were left with "a compelling, overwhelming case against Paul Woods".

During an interview with police, Woods had denied any sexual wrongdoing.