A transgender woman has been jailed for eight years for the "traumatic" rape of a vulnerable 15-year-old girl.

A jury convicted Davina Ayrton, who changed her name from David three years ago, of the sexual attack on the runaway schoolgirl in the autumn of 2004 following a trial at Portsmouth Crown Court.

The trial heard that the 34-year-old had met up with the victim and two friends one evening and gone drinking in a garage in Portsmouth which had a sofa and chairs in it.

The victim described how she screamed and shouted at Ayrton, who was 23 at the time, to stop but failed to wake up her friend and her boyfriend who were sleeping nearby.

In a statement read to the court, the victim said: "I was a young girl when David Ayrton raped me. At the time I didn't trust the police and didn't want to make a statement.

"As the years have passed, I have never forgotten the incident, how he forced himself on me, I was hysterical and I lived in fear all the time.

"I thought I was a real tough cookie but clearly I wasn't."

She added that she was shocked when police approached her 10 years after the offence saying that Ayrton had confessed to the attack.

The victim said: "I was initially shocked and all the awful memories came flooding back to me."

The court heard that Ayrton, who has a son, was convicted of possessing indecent images of children at Bournemouth Crown Court in January 2014, and of arson in 2007.

Sentencing Ayrton and placing her on the sex offenders' register for life, Judge Ian Pearson said: "The victim was aged 15, she was a vulnerable child absconder from school and absconder from home.

"In the passage of time, the traumatic effects of that night have not lessened with regards to the victim. She has done well with her life, she has recovered to some extent but her victim impact statement shows that the scars and effects will never leave her."

He continued: "I do accept your background is a very difficult one, you were the subject of sexual abuse yourself and the cycle continues with you being an abuser.

"I accept you have significant mental health issues and you are agonising over your gender issues and wish to live as a woman albeit no operation has been carried out yet."

The court heard that Ayrton has learning difficulties and has been living at the Heywood Sumner House care home in Fordingbridge.

Ann-Marie Talbot, defending, said: "She has fully accepted the offence, accepts the sex wasn't consensual and she has shown remorse for her actions.

"She was messed up from her own childhood sexual abuse and she presented with a good level of victim empathy, she was sorry for what she had done because she has been victimised sexually herself."

The prosecution was brought after a care worker reported that Ayrton had confessed to the rape in January 2014 and also told her that she was a "paedophile" and that she had "always known there was something wrong me and I need help".

Ayrton told the court in her evidence that she had not undergone any physical modifications or taken any medication as part of her gender swap.