A MAN who raped a sleeping woman was jailed for three years yesterday.

Mathew Kerr's first baby was just a day-old when he crept into the 21-year-old woman's bed after a party.

Teesside Crown Court heard that the girl could not remember being raped but Kerr, 22, was trapped when DNA tests provided overwhelming evidence.

David Lamb, defending, said Kerr initially denied rape because he could not face telling his young girlfriend and his parents what he had done.

He and his girlfriend still planned to buy a house when he was freed.

Kerr, a window cleaner, of Baker Close, Hartlepool, admitted rape on June 4, last year. He was ordered to register as a sex offender for ten years.