A “sexual predator” who raped a woman in her flat after roaming the streets of Ipswich looking for vulnerable women will learn his fate later this week.

Eighteen-year-old Jacob Young, of Beechcraft Road, Ipswich, was due to have been sentenced at Ipswich Crown Court today (Tuesday January 14) following his conviction by a jury last month for offences of rape, assault causing actual bodily harm and theft.

However, Judge Martyn Levett adjourned sentence until Friday (January 17) to allow him to consider whether or not Young was a dangerous offender.

The victim, who was drunk,left the Unit 17 nightclub in Cardinal Park with her boyfriend, who had gone to collect her, on October 13 last year.

As they were walking through the town, Young was seen on CCTV walking behind them and following them through an archway in the direction of the woman's Ipswich flat.

The victim's boyfriend had left her handbag by the front door while he helped her into the flat and when he returned shortly afterwards it was missing.

Young stole the handbag and was captured on CCTV with it.

The boyfriend then left to go back to work and Young knocked on the victim's door and raped her in the flat.

The woman, who is in her 20s, previously told a jury at Ipswich Crown Court she had been drunk on the evening of the attack and didn't have a clear recollection of what happened in her flat.

However, she said she did remember being pushed against a wall and being pushed on to her bed with her attacker's hands round her neck and trying to get him off her.

She also remembered telling him she would do whatever he wanted if he let her go to the toilet and then running down the stairs and out of her flat.

Prior to the rape, Young had hidden in bushes near McDonald's in Cardinal Park and had taken photographs of scantily clad women, and was described as a "sexual predator" by prosecutor Jane Oldfield.

He was also captured on CCTV walking round Ipswich town centre and going up and down Silent Street frequently changing direction to follow women.

Following the guilty verdicts, the jury heard that Young had a previous conviction as a 14-year-old when he followed a 12-year-old schoolgirl down an alleyway and threatened her with a knife.

Lynne Shirley, for Young, said her client had been in custody for 33 days and it was his first taste of detention.

"The time he has spent in detention hasn't been easy for him. He is vulnerable and has been subjected to violence and injury," she said.