Serial rapist held pregnant victim at knifepoint and threatened to 'kill her child' if she reported him

Majid Bairami is already serving a nine year jail term for raping a stranger he followed home from a club in Derby and threatened to stab and drown in a canal in 2013.

The 35-year-old Iranian, who has been branded a "danger", has now been convicted of raping two more victims and sentenced to 13 years and ten months behind bars, with a five year extended licence period.

Newcastle Crown Court heard the two attacks happened in Blaydon and Walker, both in Newcastle, in 2011.

Bairami denied raping the women but was convicted by a jury after a trial.

He appeared at the sentence hearing via videolink to HMP Durham and had the assistance of an interpreter.

The court heard the first victim in 2011, who was 12 weeks pregnant, was alone at a friend's house when Bairami turned up at the door in the early hours.

Bairami took a knife from the kitchen, which he held to her neck and warned she must do what he ordered or he would kill her.

After the terrifying attack, while the woman begged him to stop, Bairami warned the victim to keep quiet about what happened or he would "kill her child".

The victim said she has been left "unable to live a normal life" and suffers flashbacks, post-traumatic stress disorder and "struggles to cope with every day life".

The second attack that year happened in Walker, where Bairami pinned his victim to a bed and raped her after plying her with drink.

The court heard the sobbing victim had "no choice" but to stop struggling during the attack and "lay there crying" until the ordeal, which she said seemed to last a "lifetime" was over.

The victim of that attack told police she now lives in "social isolation" and is "constantly on edge" because of what happened to her.

Bairami, who arrived in the UK in 2006 and has convictions for dishonesty and disorder, was refused asylum and is now in the country illegally.

He will be automatically deported at the conclusion of his sentence.

Judge Robert Spragg told him: "You represent a significant risk of further specified, serious sexual offences and therefore you are dangerous.

"Your risk of serious harm to the public is assessed as high.

"You have shown no victim empathy and have distorted views in relation to women generally."

The court heard Bairami must serve at least two-thirds of his jail term but could end up behind bars for the entire 13 years and ten months.

The judge told him: "You will only be released if the parole board decide that it is safe to do so."

Bairami will be on the sex offenders register in this country for life.

The court heard Bairami has told probation officers he had a traumatic upbringing and witnessed atrocities in Iran.

He claimed to have been injured during an incident that resulted in the death of his parents and sister.