A vicious attacker who raped and threatened to kill his victim while her baby slept quietly in a nearby room was today beginning a 12 year sentence.

Dale Anthony Simpson forced an appalling trauma upon his victim in her own home on New Year's Day - including beating, gagging and raping her - before fleeing the scene believing he would get away with his crime, Leeds Crown Court heard.

But the 22-year-old was tracked by forensic science, which had only a one in a billion chance of being wrong.

Yesterday, Simpson, of Rufford Street, Barkerend, Bradford, was sentenced to 12 years in prison after admitting the rape of the woman. He had changed his plea from not guilty at the last minute.

Today, the police officer who led the hunt for Simpson, Detective Chief Inspector Roger Gasson, said the attack was every woman's nightmare and he was glad Simpson was off the streets.

John Mellor, prosecuting, told the court that the 27-year-old woman was living at the address with her 12-month-old daughter.

On January 1, a neighbour was babysitting her daughter while she cleaned her home. She remembered opening a window but did not recall closing it. It is believed this was how Simpson got in.

That evening the woman again visited her neighbour's and returned at around 10.30pm. She locked and bolted her door and put her daughter to bed. She fell asleep on the settee wearing her nightware.

Mr Mellor said that at around 11.30pm she awoke on the floor with no idea how she'd got there and felt slightly dazed. She saw a figure standing over her and assumed she'd been knocked out as she could feel her left eye was swollen.

The court heard that Simpson turned the woman face down on the floor, tied her up and gagged her.

He then said to her: "Sshh, or I'll kill you." She replied "Please God don't kill me," the court heard.

After raping her, Simpson got up and kicked her, before trying to remove any evidence of his crime.

Before leaving, Simpson again kicked or punched the woman in the right eye.

She managed to crawl outside and alerted a neighbour. The woman was examined by police and found to have a black left eye, swollen and bloody lips and mouth, blood in her hair, bruises on her back and shoulder and scratches on her face.

Forensic scientists found overwhelming evidence to link Simpson to the crime and said the likelihood of the samples belonging to another man were one in a billion.

During interview, Simpson made no comment, simply saying he didn't know anything about the offence and had never been to the house.

He had more than 100 previous convictions for various matters but none for offences of a sexual nature.

Defence barrister Peter Benson asked the judge to take into account Simpson's age and the fact that he had pleaded guilty - even at such a late stage. "The reason for it was that on this day he took a mixture of drugs - amphetamines and crack cocaine - and they reacted in such a way within him that he acted out of his normal pattern of behaviour towards women and committed this dreadful offence," said Mr Benson.

The Honourable Mr Justice Poole told Simpson that he could have been sentenced to 14 years imprisonment, but mitigation from his barrister and his guilty plea had prevented that.

He said: "You used violence to this young woman far above that necessary for the rape itself. She was bound and gagged - a terrifying experience for anybody. There was a threat to kill and she had every reason to believe you might do it. Also, her one-year-old child was in the next room."

He was sentenced to 12-years and will remain on the sex offenders list indefinitely.

AAfter the case, DCI Gasson, of Bradford Central Police, praised the woman for her courage throughout the case and said he was extremely relieved Simpson was behind bars.

"This was every woman's worst nightmare. It was a particularly horrendous rape on a young woman which caused her a tremendous amount of distress.

"Simpson did evade us for some time before we actually caught him and when we did catch him it was a tremendous success for our investigating team, who were very much disturbed by the rape.

"It affected us all and the woman needs a lot of praise for standing up to him as she has done.

"I'm pleased he's got a long sentence - the longer he's off the streets the better for everyone in Bradford. The fear of crime in that area will be much reduced now he's behind bars."