A serial rapist who told a woman that he was going to drown her baby and cut it in to little pieces after he raped her has been jailed for 12 years.

Mark Doyle of Backlane Hostel, Christchurch, pleaded guilty to the attack at her home on the morning of November 15th, 2008.

Mark Doyle – who has a string of previous convictions – had been out of prison seven months when he raped his latest victim.

The two were socialising into the early hours when he became aggressive, repeatedly punched her in the head and told her he was ‘going to have her one way or another’.

He raped her before tying her up with flex and swinging a knife at her threatening to make her watch him kill her baby, before drowning her and chopping her into pieces.

Mr Justice Paul Carney said he believed a life sentence would be overturned on appeal and eventually settled on 12 years, noting the early plea – but also the ‘gratuitous violence, the credible threats to kill and the affect the attack had on the woman’.