A 19-YEAR-OLD man has been sent to a young offenders institution for raping an exchange student.

Daniel Elliott told the woman he would help her after she became separated from her friends in the Clock House Road area of Beckenham.

But instead he led her down a path then dragged her into an alleyway and raped her.

She had only been in the UK for two days when the attack happened on February 15.

Elliott was traced through his DNA and arrested at his home in Rosewell Close, Penge, after officers found him hiding in a cupboard.

He was sentenced at Croydon Crown Court to 63 months in a young offenders institution with a licence period of two years after pleading guilty on June 28.