A BUS driver who raped a female passenger after parking his vehicle at a secluded spot was jailed for eight years yesterday.

William Mark Yeeles, 34, had persuaded the woman to stay on the bus for a chat, instead of getting off at her intended stop, as it travelled from Heworth Metro station to Horsley Hill, in South Shields, South Tyneside.

But Newcastle Crown Court heard that he drove to a quiet road at the end of the route, turned the lights off and raped her.

Yeeles, of Calver Court, South Shields, who is known as Mark, denied two charges of rape relating to the attack, but was found guilty by a jury after two hours of deliberation.

He must register as a sex offender for life.