A MAN who who battered and repeatedly raped a helpless woman has failed to convince top judges his trial was unfair.

Imran Anwar, 39, subjected his victim to violent blows and traumatising sex attacks, ignoring her protests to stop as he demanded sex.

Anwar, of Church Crescent, Bassaleg, was jailed for 15 years at Newport Crown Court, last February.

He was convicted of four rapes, sexual assault and three counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Today, three senior judges at London's Criminal Appeal Court rejected Anwar's bid to clear his name.

Mr Justice Jeremy Baker said Anwar slapped his victim, kicked her in the stomach and hit her across the face, repeatedly forcing her into sex.

The woman said she "just lay back and let him do it" after Anwar refused to accept "no" for an answer.

He was arrested and denied any wrongdoing, insisting that any sexual contact between him and the woman had been entirely consensual.

On appeal, his counsel, Malcolm Bishop QC, argued that the trial judge erred by refusing to admit evidence relating to web chats involving the victim.

The barrister argued that Anwar's defence had been undermined, that his convictions were "unsafe" and that they should be quashed.

But Mr Justice Baker, sitting with Lord Justice Treacy and Mrs Justice Swift, said the material was "not sufficiently relevant" to go before the jury.

He concluded: "The judge properly excluded the material from the jury's consideration. The renewed application to appeal is refused."