A 31-YEAR-OLD Oswestry man has admitted the "brutal and persistent" rape of a woman in the early hours of New Year's Day. Howard Long carried out the attack on the victim near Morda as she was walking from the town centre. The victim, who is from Oswestry, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was on her way home after being out celebrating on New Year’s Eve. At Shrewsbury Crown Court on Monday Long, who had initially denied the attack, changed his plea to guilty before he was due to face trial. Long, of Melverley, near Oswestry, admitted one charge of rape and one count of attempted rape and pleaded guilty to two further charges of assault in relation to the attack. Judge Robin Onions adjourned the case for sentence until September 1 and remanded Long in custody and warned him that he faces a substantial term of imprisonment. Ordering reports on Long he said he wanted the defendant assessed for dangerousness. "This was a serious offence. It was a particularly brutal and persistent rape of a stranger. "It is of the kind of which is thankfully very rare these days," he said.