This is the face of a convicted rapist who is believed to be on the loose in Ireland.

Edward Connors failed to turn up for a hearing in Belfast Magistrates Court on Monday.

He is thought to have fled to the Republic of Ireland and police issued this photograph after a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Connors was released in March, half-way through an eight-year prison sentence for raping an American student in Colin Glen Forest Park in April 2008.

He was just 15 at the time of the attack on Winnie Li, who has waived her right to anonymity.

Miss Li, who was 26 at the time of the attack, said that hearing Connors was on the run had stirred up feelings she thought she had "put to rest" after trying to put her life back together.

She said: "Suddenly I was like this person who disrupted my life four years ago is in a bizarre way disrupting my life again even though I live on the other side of the world. I don’t think he's a safe person to have on the streets."

But she added: "I don't think it should be cause for hysteria because even if he's caught there are lots of other people out there."

Connors was due in court to answer a charge of breaching one of the terms of his probation, namely that he failed to "complete an individual programme of work to address his sexual offending".

(NE)