A married man who raped a vulnerable Bradford student with learning difficulties has been jailed for three years.

Kashef Malik, 28, chatted up his innocent 20-year-old victim as she ate her lunch in Bradford’s Centenary Square, the city’s Crown Court heard yesterday.

Two weeks later she was eating a sandwich on a bench in the city centre when Malik sat next to her, engaged her in conversation and touched her bottom.

He then said he wanted to have sex with her and persuaded her to walk with him down an alleyway, where the rape took place.

Prosecutor Richard Gioserano said the victim had displayed considerable learning difficulties and symptoms of her condition included emotional immaturity and naivety, difficulty in understanding body language and a trusting nature.

He said the victim was from elsewhere in Yorkshire and had only been in Bradford for a month. It was to have been her first experience of studying and living away from home.

Mr Gioserano said it was conceded no force was used in the rape but the defendant had no grounds for believing the woman was consenting.

The victim had gone back to her course but began experiencing flashbacks and had been forced to give up her studies and return to living at home.

Andrew Dallas, mitigating, said it was an extraordinary case and Malik, who had pleaded guilty to rape, was being sentenced for going too far.

Judge Jonathan Rose said Malik, of Cornwall Road, Manningham, suffered from a mental illness but there was no link between that and the offence.

The judge said Malik’s victim had been extremely vulnerable and he had been persistent.

Judge Rose said Malik’s marriage was not in a good state at the time.

He said: “You were on the lookout for a woman with whom you could engage in a sexual relationship. It was her misfortune that she was the woman on whom you set your eye.”

He said the girl was wholly inexperienced in men and was innocently eating her lunch when Malik approached her. The judge told Malik he had violated her and destroyed her sexual autonomy.

He added: “I am satisfied the psychological damage caused by your action was significant and extensive.”

Malik had denied charges of sexual assault and attempted rape and not guilty verdicts were recorded.

He was ordered to sign on to the sex offenders’ register.