A WOMAN has been forced to relive a nightmare after the man who brutally raped her and beat her almost to death has once again been convicted and jailed for sexual assault.

David McKeown, now 42, of no fixed abode, was jailed in 2005 for an attack on a woman in Flimby.

He was paroled on licence in Barrow last year but is now returning to jail for a further seven years after being convicted of sexual assault and stalking.

Speaking alongside her parents, his first victim has maintained her right to anonymity; she has children who do not know what their mother went through.

Her attacker stomped on her face, breaking her nose, jaw, and cheekbones and damaging her eyes.

When her parents visited her in hospital, they were only able to identify her by the black nail polish on her toes.

“She was unrecognisable,” her father said, and her mother added: “We did not know, for 72 hours, whether she would live or die.

"We were told that one more stomp would have killed her.”

There was concern about a brain swell. She was in a coma for five weeks followed by a stint in intensive care.

She lost her confidence and, to this day, will not go out alone at night.

“She also worried if I am walking home from her house – and that is just at teatime. We always have to text to say we are home,” her mother said.

The woman had been on a night out with a friend. She got off the bus and her friend continued her journey. McKeown was on the same bus.

What happened next would change the victim’s life forever.

She cannot remember much of the night “which I think is a good thing,” she said.

Her parents recall every moment.

Her mother said: “It was a Sunday morning in March. We were going to the market when we saw all these police cars. I looked in at my daughter and found she had not been in her bed.

“We went across to the rugby field and told them our daughter was missing. We had to identify her, right down to the panties she was wearing before they confirmed that this was our daughter and she had already been transported to hospital.”

She said she had to stay strong but her husband was beyond angry and wanted revenge.

The family said they had received several notifications over the years that McKeown had applied for parole. However, it had previously been turned down because it was believed he could still be a danger to women.

He was finally paroled in April last year.

“I was terrified,” his victim said. “I thought he would come back here.”

Within a short time, however, McKeown was at Preston Crown Court where he was sentenced this week after being convicted of sexual assault and stalking. The jury found him not guilty on a charge of oral rape.

His victim said just knowing he was back in jail was a relief - and the court has ruled that McKeown has been prohibited from entering Cumbria after his release.