A man who held a terrified woman prisoner in his Suffolk home and raped her after threatening to paralyse her with a date-rape drug has been jailed for ten years.

Trevor Robertson lured the woman to his home at Combs, near Stowmarket, on the pretext of taking her to the theatre. When she got there he tied her hands to the posts of his bed and held a large hunting knife to her throat, Ipswich Crown Court was told.

During her ordeal Robertson threatened to kill her and also threatened to inject her with a syringe of clear liquid which he claimed was a date-rape drug that would paralyse her if she did not co-operate.

He also told the woman he was going to make her watch him kill himself and had raped her. The woman was so scared that she was sick twice and had eventually managed to escape after saying she needed to use the bathroom.

Robertson, 53, denied falsely imprisoning the woman, making a threat to kill her and two offences of rape in November last year but was found guilty after a trial.

He admitted attempting to pervert the course of justice by trying to get the victim not to give evidence and possessing cannabis and cocaine.

Recorder Anesta Weekes made a restraining order banning Robertson from contacting the victim and ordered him to sign on the Sex Offenders’ Register for life.

Sentencing him she said had no doubt that his victim would be mentally scarred for life by her “truly appalling” ordeal.