A Sussex man who said he had sex with a woman at a party after mistaking her for his wife has been convicted of rape.

Michael Collins, 44, of Templars Close, Middleton, near Bognor, was jailed for five years.

The training officer, who had drunk 14 pints of Guinness with vodka chasers, said: "It was all a ghastly mistake I would not have made if I were sober."

Inner London Crown Court heard Collins' wife Samantha was skinny, white and short-haired while his victim was of mixed race, up to 17 stone and had a different hairstyle.

After the rape, the court heard, Collins chased the woman into the street wielding a knife.

Collins, who said he only realised his mistake when the victim turned around as he hugged her, then went home to his wife of 13 years and their three children. He was wearing his victim's shorts.

Judge Jonathan van der Werff told him: "No doubt it would not have happened were you not so drunk that night, but the fact you were drunk does not afford any real mitigation.

"The fact you would not have done it had you been sober makes no difference to her."

The victim told the court she had gone to a bedroom at the party in Walworth, south London, in the early hours of October 27 last year to rest.

She said: "I was drunk at the time. I opened my eyes and I saw Mick laying on top of me."

At first she thought it was her boyfriend. She said: "I realised it was Mick having sex with me after a few seconds."

Collins was arrested later that day. He said in a statement prepared by his solicitor: "I mistook Miss X for my wife. I believe I went into the bedroom allocated to us."