A restaurant owner who raped a woman in Inverness has been jailed for more than four years.

Thomas Eccles was convicted of attacking the woman following a four-day trial at the High Court in Edinburgh.

The 46-year-old repeatedly punched his victim before forcing her to perform a series of sex acts, and raping her on September 29, 2010.

Eccles, who used to run a Thai restaurant in the city, was jailed for four years and three months on Friday.

During the trial the woman told the court she had cried and asked Eccles to stop, but he ignored her.

After the attack had ended she walked to a nearby branch of Tesco's and told a security guard what had happened.

Eccles, of Margaret Street, Inverness, denied the attack and claimed the sex was consensual.

Defence solicitor advocate Gordon Martin said: "He has lost everything that he has worked for throughout his life.

"He had a business. He knows his life is ruined. He is a first offender who has no previous criminal convictions."

Lord Bannatyne jailed Eccles for 51 months and put him on the sex offenders register for life.