A TEENAGER today spoke about the beast who brutally raped her in her own home and said: "I'm terrified because I know he is still out there."

The victim -- who was attacked just two days after her 18th birthday -- revealed how the incident had changed her life forever.

She urged people to help catch the attacker as police prepared to appeal for new information on BBC 1's Crimewatch programme tonight.

Officers were also distributing a poster containing artists' impressions of two men they want to speak to about the rape, in Great Harwood, at about 9pm on Saturday January 19.

The victim, who was forced to drop out of her college course because of the trauma caused by the brutal assault, was bundled to the floor and raped by a man claiming to be a double glazing salesman.

He forced his way into her home in Blackburn Road, Great Harwood, and threatened to harm her if she resisted.

Police have said the attack was particularly brutal and it did not bear thinking about what could have happened.

The woman, who can not be named, said: "I feel like a child because I can't go out anywhere on my own or be left by myself.

"I still have nightmares about the attack and feel my life has just stopped.

"I had to give up work and college and lots of normal everyday things that I used to do. This has completely changed my life.

"I think this man needs to be caught before he can do it again to anybody else.

"He is obviously a very sad and very lonely man but there must be somebody who knows who he is and could be protecting him.

"One of the worst things is just not knowing where he is and that he knows where I am.

"If he was caught at least I would be able to finalise things in my own head, knowing he is not out there somewhere."

The teenager is still receiving counselling in a bid to come to terms with what has happened to her and, although she has been back to the house where the attack took place, said she can't stay there for longer than a few minutes.

She said: "I have been back but it is very difficult for me to stay there. I usually just go in and maybe have a bath, but I stay most nights at my boyfriend's house. We have become very close since this all happened."

She said she had been touched by the support given to her not just by her mother, family and boyfriend but by the community at large.

She said: "A lot of people obviously know what has happened and everybody has been great.

"It is quite a close knit community here and I think people were shocked that something like this could happen here."

The woman said she was hoping to go on holiday with her boyfriend later in the summer and was planning to go back to college.

She was attacked as she returned home from work.

Tonight's TV programme, at 9pm, will include a reconstruction of the attack and an interview with the victim.

The attacker, who had been seen in the area several times before the rape, fled after the girl spoke to her boyfriend on the phone.

One of the men police want to question was seen following the girl. He was described as white, aged late 20s, broad build, about 5ft 9ins, dark complexion, spots or shaving rash, wearing a black jacket with the word Umbro on the back and using a light blue Nokia phone.

A second man, seen at the rear of the woman's house, was white, aged 27-32, 5ft 8 ins, stocky, clean shaven, swarthy, with short dark hair cut to a number two style, wearing a black bobble jacket.