by Keith Hunt

A sex beast who brutally raped a gay woman as she was forced to sleep rough in a Maidstone park has been jailed for nine years.

James McDonagh still maintains his innocence and is planning to appeal against conviction.

But Judge Martin Joy told him he had been found guilty on "compelling and, indeed, overwhelming evidence".

The sentence, he said, was the least he could impose to reflect society's abhorrence of such an attack.

The 40-year-old father of eight, who comes from an Irish travelling community, protested after a jury unanimously convicted him in May.

He shouted as he was taken to the cells: "I didn't do it. You are wrong because I wasn't there. I swear on my children's life."

His wife Brigid, 39, had to be removed from the court as she sobbed: "Mother, mother."

Ch Supt Matthew Nix on the McDonagh sentence

She had backed up her husband's claim that he was at home in Walthamstow, east London, when the victim was attacked - a claim the judge dismissed as false evidence.

Mrs McDonagh remained silent as she sat in court today, clutching a cross and a picture of Jesus, with two daughters.

Maidstone Crown Court heard McDonagh was one of three men who pounced on the victim as she lay under a tree in Mote Park in June last year.

The other two held her down as McDonagh raped her from behind. He was arrested after his DNA was found on the woman's underwear.

The judge decided it was not necessary to impose an indeterminate sentence for public protection.