A man who forced his way into a bedsit and drugged two women before sexually assaulting and raping them was jailed for 16 years on Friday.

A Judge said Imran Ghafoor was a danger to women. He said the women's four-hour ordeal at his hands had had a "profound and devastating effect on their lives".

The drugs, including cocaine were said to have left the women, aged 22 and 32, in a "stupefied and confused" state.  

It allowed Imran Ghafoor to push them on to a bed, where he assaulted them physically and sexually.

At Luton Crown Court Ghafoor, 42, of Newhouse Crescent, Watford, was convicted of offences of common assault on the women, two offences of committing an offence with intent to commit a sexual offence on them, two offences of administering a substance to the women, two offences of oral rape and three offences of assault by penetration. He had pleaded not guilty to all the charges and claimed the drugs they took were their own drugs.

Judge Philip Bartle QC said Ghafoor must serve at least two thirds of the 16 year sentence before he can apply for parole. When he is released he will be subject to a an extended licence period of four years.

At his trial in August prosecutor David Harounoff described the women who shared the flat in Luton as "very very timid".

He said that after the alarm was raised they were medically examined and traces of cocaine and Viagra were found in their systems.

The jury heard the women shared a flat in a house in Luton and, late on the night of Friday, November 22 last year, one of them went to a neighbouring flat to ask that the music be turned down.

Ghafoor, who was visiting the flat, later went to the women's flat and forced his way in.

Mr Harounoff said: "He literally forced drugs into their mouths."

Over the next few hours Ghafoor forced the women to perform sex acts on him and sexually assaulted them.

Early the next morning, when the defendant had left, a woman neighbour could see the women were distressed and confused and under the influence of something.

She called for an ambulance and the police attended.

Following his arrest three days later Ghafoor claimed he had been invited to the women's home.

He said the sexual activity had been at the women's instigation.

Miss Di Middleton, defending said: "This was a one off incident when he was disinhibited through his use of drugs."

She said there was nothing in his past of a similar nature.