IT was a brutal and hate-filled attack that left his terrified victim fearing he has been emotionally and physically scarred for life.

Violent Jack Mason savagely punched and kicked a stranger walking down a Southampton street so hard his two front teeth were left hanging from their roots, before stealing his mobile phone and credit card.

High on cocaine and alcohol, the 22-year-old then dragged the terrified man into a remote woodland pathway and subjected him to a prolonged and horrifying repeated rape, threatening to kill him if he made a noise or told anyone.

Mason, of Adey Close, Sholing, was caught after DNA taken from the scene matched a sample police took when he was arrested on drugs charges six years ago.

After admitting the crimes in the face of the overwhelming forensic evidence against him, he has now been locked up indefinitely after a judge ruled he poses a major risk to the public.

Jailing him for at least eight years and placing him on the sex offenders’ register for life, Judge Derwin Hope told Mason: “It’s difficult to imagine a more frightening experience for anyone to have undergone.”

Southampton Crown Court had heard Mason’s 22-year-old victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was walking along Portsmouth Road, Sholing, in the early hours of April 21 when he was approached by the stranger.

Mason, who later told probation officers he thought his victim looked “effeminate”, said: “People like you disgust me and should be strangled at birth,” before launching his violent assault, punching the man to the ground before kicking him in the face and ribs.

After rifling through his pockets for items to steal, he then dragged the man into a deserted alleyway opposite the Veal’s store, where he brutally sexually assaulted him.

Within hours, detectives had launched a major operation to find the attacker, sealing off the woodland, going house-to-house in a bid to find potential witnesses, and also sent leaflets to homes in the area.

But a month after the attack, the breakthrough came when forensic experts found a perfect DNA match with material taken from the scene.

The next day Mason was arrested and fully admitted being the attacker, pleading guilty to charges of robbery and two counts of rape.

Defending, Alistair Wright said: “Mr Mason finds it as horrific, having gone back over what happened, as it inevitably was to his victim. Both of them, in different ways, have to live with it for the rest of their lives.”

My life will never be the same again after this attack

JACK Mason’s victim sat in court and watched his attacker being jailed, but fears his life will never be the same because of what he was subjected to that night.

The 22-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said his life has been transformed by the horrifying ordeal he went through on April 21, at the hands of someone he had never met before.

The man, who was supported through the emotional court hearing by his family, said the attack has had a major impact on them too.

“I feel gutted that the male who assaulted me has emotionally and physically scarred me,” he said. “I was always known as the loudest person in the house, but I feel I’m not that person anymore.

“I used to walk everywhere. People used to think I was mad because I walked so much.

“I have not been out of the house on my own as I break out into a panic. I tried to go out on two occasions, but just felt I needed to get home and really panic when I feel someone walking close to me or behind me.

“Sometimes I shut myself away and want to be left alone.”