A rapist who carried out a “brutal and callous” attack on a woman in south London was branded a danger to women today as he was jailed for 12 years.

Bruno Andre Miguel Pereira, 21, attacked his victim in Tudor Close, Brixton Hill, in the early hours of August 2nd last year as she walked home from a night out.

Pereira, who was captured on CCTV approaching other lone women before the attack, asked the woman for a lighter and the pair sat down together.

Judge Usha Karu said: "What followed was a nightmare for her. You tried to kiss her and you placed your hand under her skirt.

“She said no and tried to stand up and then you became forceful and violent. You grabbed her by the wrists and dragged her into the bushes."

Pereira raped the woman before flinging her on the floor and assaulting her again in an attack lasting up to 20 minutes, the court heard.

The judge said: “She tried to resist but to no avail. She said that she was fearful for her life. She scratched your face which may be the reason why you stopped and left.”

Pereira was later identified from DNA evidence left on a discarded cigarette butt at the scene.

The rapist, who had previous convictions for four sexual assaults on two girls aged 13 to 15 when he was at school in 2007, was told he posed a “high risk of serious harm to females” at Inner London Crown Court today.

Judge Karu told him: “You were convicted by a jury of one count of rape which you committed in a brutal and callous way upon your victim."

Imposing a 12-year sentence, she said: “Your record suggests you have a propensity for violence which appears to be getting more serious.”

Speaking outside court, his victim said she felt an “enormous amount of anger” towards her attacker, who denied rape but was convicted by a jury in December.

She said: “It was a vicious, violent stranger attack which will kind of affect my life forever and the fact he denies it just renders me speechless to be honest.”

The woman, who has suffered psychological problems since her ordeal and has been supported by counsellors from Rape Crisis South London, went on: “I think this is something, had he not been caught he'd have continued to do over and over.

“I would have loved it if they could have locked him up and thrown away the key but at the same time I think it's important someone like him gets help.

"Because he's a young man maybe they might be able to fix him which is the most important thing really so he doesn't do it again.”

She added: “I kind of don't know where to go from here because it's kind of taken over my life in quite a huge way because it was all I thought about. It affected everything I did. I'm sure from tomorrow it will be like a huge weight has gone.

“I've got a really long way to go because it doesn't just end here. Fixing myself is going to take time.”