A man has pleaded guilty to the rape and kidnap of a British backpacker in Australia.

Marcus Allyn Keith Martin, 23, was accused of holding the woman, who is in her 20s, captive in an ordeal lasting more than a month, between February and March 2017.

She required hospital treatment for injuries including facial fractures after being found by police near Mitchell, Queensland, on 5 March last year.

The woman was discovered when she stumbled badly bruised into a remote petrol station. She told police she had been held captive by a man she met at a party in Cairns.

DI Paul Hart, from Queensland police, told a press conference at the time that she had been subjected to a “horrific and terrifying” experience.

Martin, of Cairns, Queensland, appeared via videolink at Cairns district court on Friday where he pleaded guilty to three counts of rape and one count of deprivation of liberty.

His case will next be heard at court on 11 February 2019, when a sentencing date will be set.