A 'good Samaritan' who took a down-and-out home, fed him, washed his clothes and let him have a bath and the spare bed, was repaid with a seven-hour ordeal at knife-point in which she was raped, stabbed and robbed.

The woman, in her early thirties, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was so traumatised by events last December, that she can no longer bear to live in her Hayes home, is nervous of going out and cannot enjoy sexual relations with her boyfriend.

She has also been infected with a sexually transmitted disease which could lead to sterility and is still awaiting the results of an AIDs test.

At Isleworth Crown Court last Friday her tormenter, Charles Paul Casey, 39, homeless and jobless, was jailed for 12 years.

He admitted raping the woman, indecently assaulting her, wounding her with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, falsely imprisoning her, robbing her and stealing £240 cash from her bank account - all on the night of December 22 last year.

Prosecutor Nick Corsellis said the woman met Casey when he was sleeping rough on Blackfriars Tube station in Central London and 'took pity on him'.

'She took him back to her home where she allowed him to bath, washed his clothes, gave him a meal and offered him a bed in the spare room for the night,' he said.

She went to bed early explaining that she had to get up early for work next morning.

'But during the night she woke to find a kitchen knife at her throat,' said counsel.

Casey raped her but she managed to escape and ran down the stairs only to be stabbed in the back with a kitchen knife.

'She fell to her knees and the defendant dragged her into another room, got some ice wrapped in a rag and tried to stop the wound bleeding,' said counsel.

It was quite a deep wound but did no further damage.

The defendant then dragged her back upstairs and tied her hands around her back.

He stuffed socks and pants into her mouth and tied on a gag with scarves, said counsel.

She managed free her hands so he grabbed a hair dryer and tied them with the flex and left her in the bedroom to 'try and get some sleep'.

Later Casey returned to the room demanding further sex acts but the woman told him: 'I would rather die'.

Meanwhile he found her bank card and forced her to reveal her PIN number and left the house, taking her mobile 'phone and withdrew £240 from her account.

Having left fingerprints all over the house, Casey was arrested by police shortly afterwards.

His counsel, John Alban Williams said there was little he could say about such dreadful offences, other than Casey pleaded guilty to everything, which saved the victim the ordeal of giving evidence in a trial.

Jailing him Judge David Miller told him: 'What you did was absolutely appalling.

'This woman took you into her home, something which I am sure she now bitterly regrets.

'You repaid her act of kindness with this appalling behaviour'.