A 70-year-old woman was sexually assaulted in her own home by a violent attacker who she had previously helped out.

The pensioner was so scared during the incident in Craigend, Glasgow, that she pretended to be dead so her neighbour Stephen McCaig would stop.

Glasgow Sheriff Court heard the victim befriended 43-year-old McCaig when he first moved into the area two years before the attack, helping him furnish his new flat.

When she invited him into her home for a drink on October 5, 2015, he violently attacked her by pulling her hair and repeatedly punching her on the face.

He then tried to undress the victim who fought against him.

McCaig then started raining blows on the 70-year-old, who says she pretended to be dead so he would stop, before managing to escape to a neighbour's house, where police were contacted.

When officers arrived at the flat they found McCaig partially undressed.

He started screaming abuse when he became aware of their presence, calling the officers pigs and spitting on them.

Sheriff Paul Crozier sentenced McCaig, now of Paisley Road West, Glasgow, to three years behind bars.

He will also be monitored in the community for a year and a half after his release.

McCaig accepted he violently attacked the pensioner, which he claimed to have no recollection of, but denied there was any intention to sexually her.

The incident happened when McCaig, who was out walking his dog, spotted his elderly neighbour as she returned from a night out just after midnight and went to her door.

She then invited him in to her home for a drink and he claims that after he drank vodka he blanked out and could not remember anything that happened after.

McCaig told jurors: "I'm absolutely horrified and ashamed at what has happened."

The woman, who suffered a suspected broken nose as well as bruising and swelling to her face and thighs, has since moved to sheltered housing as a result of the ordeal.