A rapist sobbed this morning as he was led from the dock to begin a six-year jail sentence.

Mohammed Khan, 35, was jailed for raping and sexually assaulting a woman at Watford General Hospital on four occasions in 2008.

Khan, of Trinity Hall Close, Watford, appeared at St Albans Crown Court this morning for a sentencing hearing.

The court heard how, when working as a porter, he had committed one offence of oral rape in March of that year and carried out sexual assaults on three other occasions in the following months.

Judge Stephen Warner rejected claims from Khan’s defence counsel that he had enjoyed a consensual sexual relationship with his victim, who cannot be named.

He said: “You forced her to give evidence at a trial and relive her experience at your hands. You attacked her character and suggested that she had fabricated these allegations as your relationship had come to an end. I am satisfied that there is no substance to this allegation.

“She was working at a hospital where you worked and was entitled to feel safe in her workplace. You used the opportunity to take advantage of her when she was vulnerable; when she was trying to find her way around the hospital.”

Judge Warner also rejected pleas from Khan’s legal team to reconsider psychiatric reports before passing sentence.

He added: “It is clear from the evidence I have heard that you have no understanding of where the boundaries of appropriate behaviour towards women at work lay.

“In my judgement your behaviour can rightly be described as predatory.”

A nervous looking Khan, who sat in a blue suit next to an interpreter throughout the proceedings, spoke only to confirm his name. He was jailed for six years for the count of rape and 12 months concurrently for the assaults.

As he was taken from the dock he began to cry before waving at family members who had gathered in the gallery to support him.