A SERIAL rapist was freed from jail - only to strike again.

Clifford Church, who worked in a charity shop in Redcar, was given a life sentence for a sickening sex attack but he will be able to apply for release after just four years.

Church, 42, of Lincoln Road, Redcar, was jailed at Teesside Crown Court after admitting four counts of rape, two of attempted rape, sexual assault, assault by penetration and making a threat to kill.

Church told his victim: "You know I am going to kill you. I have been to prison and I am going to do life for you."

Church had previously been jailed for eight years for raping a 16-year-old and forcing her to perform a sex act on him in The Burn area of Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, in October 1996. He was released from jail in 2002.

He had been working at the British Heart Foundation shop in Redcar High Street.

Gavin Doig, prosecuting, said his victim, a married woman, had been walking along The Stray, in Redcar, after leaving the Top Deck nightclub at about 2.10am on October 23 last year.

Church approached her and suggested they share a taxi. When she refused, he took hold of her and dragged her on to a grassed area. There, he subjected her to a sexual assault lasting more than half an hour before she escaped.

Eric Elliott, mitigating, said an addiction to drink led him to be a Jekyll and Hyde character.

The judge, who said the attack was 'every woman's nightmare', ruled Church would serve a minimum of four years, after which he would be eligible for parole.

Detective Sergeant Nick Owen said the case was the most harrowing he had worked on in 16 years.

He said: "Clifford Church is a sexual predator and the streets are a safer place now that he is back behind bars.

"Hopefully, when the parole board makes a decision over him, they will take into account all the circumstances of this horrific attack."