A MAN has admitted raping a student in Glasgow's west end.

Ryan Lafferty, 23, from Millerston, Glasgow, attacked the 19-year-old woman in Lilybank Gardens, near Ashton Lane.

The High Court in Glasgow heard Lafferty targeted his victim as she walked along the street at 1.50am in May last year.

Prosecutor Neil Beardmore said: "The accused grabbed her from behind, with an arm round her neck and another around her waist.

"She struggled and screamed and was pushed to the ground."

Lafferty crouched over the terrified woman and repeatedly punched her, only stopping when she stopped screaming.

He then dragged her across to a set of steps and sexually abused her.

The terrified woman began screaming again, begging him to stop.

He punched her several times on the face until she stopped screaming and then forced her to perform a sex act.

At one point during her ordeal the woman was able to shout for help. Lafferty grabbed her hair and tried to drag her down the steps.

Two passers-by went to her aid and found her to be so distressed she was hyperventilating.

Mr Beardmore said the police and an ambulance were then called.

The court heard Lafferty made his way home and explained away scratches to his face by telling his girlfriend he had been in a fight.

His victim was treated for bruising to her forehead, left eye and cheek and shoulder at the accident and emergency department at the Western Infirmary, Glasgow.

Unemployed Lafferty had been thrown out of the Queen Margaret Union for making a nuisance of himself.

Shortly before the rape he was seen collapsed through drink in a doorway in Lilybank Gardens.

Lafferty gave his name to medical students who tended to him.

They called him a taxi, but he wandered off and minutes later carried out the attack. He later emerged as a suspect during the police investigation into the rape.

CCTV footage showed him hiding behind a van as the woman walked along Lilybank Gardens before following her.

The court heard that the clothes he wore that night were seized. Analysis of his jeans and boxer shorts revealed a partial profile of his victim's DNA.

The court was told the woman still suffers nightmares and has difficulty sleeping.

Judge Lady Scott remanded Lafferty in custody and also ordered background reports ahead of sentencing next month at the High Court in Edinburgh.

She also placed Lafferty on the sex offenders register.

Defence advocate Louise Arrol will give a plea in mitigation when the case next calls.