A SUFFOLK woman was subjected to a frightening sex attack over a period of 16 hours by a mentally ill Essex man she met on a chat line, it has been alleged.

Jane Hunt

A SUFFOLK woman was subjected to a frightening sex attack over a period of 16 hours by a mentally ill Essex man she met on a chat line, it has been alleged.

During her ordeal the 27-year-old single mother was the victim of increasingly bizarre and aggressive behaviour by Andrew Cole who had suffered from mental illness for a number of years, Ipswich Crown Court was told yesterday.

During the 16 hours Cole was in the woman's house in the Lowestoft area he allegedly assaulted her sexually and physically and “trashed” her belongings, said Stephen Dyble, prosecuting.

Cole, 31, of Balantyne Drive, Colchester, has denied rape, assault by penetration, causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent, assault causing actual bodily harm and common assault.

The court has heard that Cole has admitted criminal damage to the woman's belongings.

Outlining the background to the case Mr Dyble said that Cole and the woman got to know each other on a telephone chat line and over a period of months exchanged telephone calls, text messages and photographs of a sexual nature.

The couple did not meet until February this year, when out of the blue Cole sent the woman a text message asking if he could visit her at her home.

The woman agreed and Cole travelled to the Lowestoft area by taxi, arriving in the early hours of the morning.

The couple had a hot drink and sat chatting and after a while Cole emptied a bag containing medication on the floor and told the woman that he suffered from mental illness.

Within an hour they had consensual sexual intercourse and afterwards Cole had fallen asleep on the sofa.

When he woke up he asked to have a shower and thereafter there was a “marked deterioration” in his behaviour, said Mr Dyble.

“His behaviour became more and more bizarre,” he said.

He alleged that Cole had performed a number of sexual acts on the woman that she did not consent to and had ignored her requests to stop.

He had also urinated on items of her furniture and had become increasingly violent and aggressive resulting in the woman having bruises all over her body. He had also allegedly poured a hot drink over her and smashed a number of her belongings, said Mr Dyble.

He said the woman - who cannot be named for legal reasons - had eventually raised the alarm with a neighbour after Cole started smashing up her house and the police were called.

Mr Dyble said that Cole had suffered from bi-polar manic depression and hyper-mania for a number of years.

He said the prosecution alleged that at the time of the offences he was suffering from a relapse of these conditions but it was not suggested that his illness prevented him from being criminally responsible for what allegedly happened at the woman's home.

The trial continues today.