A wheelchair-bound Edgware man has been jailed for raping a prostitute in his car.

Dennis Hayes, 38, of The Orchard, off Edgwarebury Lane, was ordered to serve a minimum of four years and will be made to sign the sex Offender's Register for life.

He was convicted of three counts of assault by penetration at Northampton Crown Court last month. The jury heard how the woman, who cannot be named, was picked up by Hayes in Luton on March 15 last year. He paid £20 to perform a sex act on her, but drove to an alleyway and assaulted her with such force she nearly jumped through the roof' of his car, she testified.

Hayes, who had no previous convictions and pleaded not guilty, told the court he was a paraplegic and had used prostitutes in the past.