A BRUTAL Carlisle rapist who targeted a terrified lone teenager has finally faced justice - more than 30 years after his crime.

Despite numerous police and press appeals for information, perverted Paul William Shakespeare, 66, got away with the "predatory" rape because police had no way of matching the DNA found on the victim after the attack near to a public footpath in Cheltenham on April 29, 1990.

That changed when police in Carlisle last year arrested Shakespeare, of Scaleby Close, Upperby, on suspicion of indecent exposure.

Though never charged with that offence, he was prosecuted for carrying a knife and so his DNA was entered on to a national police database.

This finally gave detectives the DNA match with the attacker that they needed to prove his guilt, Gloucester Crown Court heard.

Virginia Cornwall, prosecuting, outlined how eyewitnesses had noticed a stranger - now identified as Shakespeare - "staring at women and girls" as they stood chatting next to a children's play park.

When Shakespeare saw the lone 18-year-old girl walking her dog, he followed her along the footpath, called the Honeybourne Line, created from a disused railway. When she was far enough away from bystanders, he approached her, brandishing a sharpened stick with a nail through it.

Threatening her with it, he forced her into some nearby bushes and there raped her. At one point, the court heard, he told the teenager: "Be quiet or I'll kill you."

He continued threatening her - even after the rape, forcing the teenager to reveal her name and where she lived and worked, saying: "Don't say anything or I'll kill you.

"I know where you live and I know where you work and if you say anything to anyone I'll come and get you."

"She was clearly terrified," said Ms Cornwall. Shakespeare - who sat with his eyes closed throughout most of the hearing - then ran away, leaving his home-made weapon at the scene.

News and Star: Predator: The defendant's family had no idea of his horrific crime in Cheltenham almost 30 years ago, the court heard. Predator: The defendant's family had no idea of his horrific crime in Cheltenham almost 30 years ago, the court heard.

In a poignant statement, the victim spoke of the profound and lasting impact of the rape.

She suffered panic attacks and nightmares, with Shakespeare's terrifying and shadowy figure looming over her.

Traumatised, she reached "rock bottom", and attempted to take her own life. But on August 5 last year, police officers arrived at her door to tell her they had arrested a suspect.

Despite that powerful evidence, Shakespeare initially denied wrongdoing, deepening his victim's suffering by claiming the sex was "consensual." "Being raped will haunt me for the rest of my life," she said.

"In that moment, I thought this man was going to kill me."

As repeated police appeals - and even a BBC's Crimewatch UK reconstruction - came to nothing, she reflected on how her life was ruined while he carried on with his. She said: "The impact of what he did will stay with me forever...

"Those memories are never far from the forefront of my mind. I try to forget but it's still there. It stopped me from being the person I wanted to be. I became hyper-vigilant; always conscious of the men around me...

"I was aware someone had taken from me something that wasn't theirs to take." Kim Whittlestone, for Shakespeare, said his strongest mitigation was his admissions - of rape and possessing an offensive weapon.

He carried a knife in Carlisle because he was targeted by local youths.

Married to an NHS nurse and the father of adult children, he was now in failing health.

"He feels remorse and shame," added the barrister.

Jailing Shakespeare for nine years, Judge Michael Callum told him: "I am so relieved that this day has finally come for [the victim]; for 30 years she was denied justice and lived daily with the nightmare you inflicted on her...

"At last she and all women will be safe from you for a considerable period of time."

On the day of the rape, said the judge, Shakespeare was walking around "looking for a victim."

Describing the rape, the judge told the defendant: "You embarked on an attack which had absolutely nothing to do with consent but everything to do with your physical power as you saw it over her... I am satisfied that you have been a dangerous person; you were clearly a dangerous person on the day of the predatory rape."

But specifying that Shakespeare would have to serve two thirds of his sentence before he is eligible for release on licence, and noting his poor physical health, the judge said there was no need for an extended licence period.

The defendant will be on the Sex Offender Register for life. The victim was in court to witness the sentencing.