A computer programmer accused of rape chatted up a

A computer programmer accused of rape chatted up a young travel agent during the attack, the Old Bailey heard today (WEDS).

Camille Hourani, 31, booked a ticket to America as he subjected a woman to a 24-hour bondage sex ordeal, the jury was told.

And as he phoned through the details, a female member of staff could hear his 29-year-old victim sobbing in the background, it is alleged.

Then Hourani stunned the woman by smooth-talking her and suggesting a date, the court heard.

Hourani is said to have tied up his victim – a former girlfriend – for 15 hours and attacked the woman after accusing her of seeing another man.

He later fled to the States, but was arrested when he returned to Britain carrying a wig, dark glasses, rope, tape, and a knife, the jury was told.

Travel agent Sharleen Cole today revealed that Hourani asked her to describe herself as he booked the flight to Atlanta, Georgia.

Miss Cole, who worked for Flightbookers agency, told the jury: ‘I could hear a lady crying in the background.

‘It was a constant crying, like there was something going on.

It was a continuous crying, and I had to ask him to call me back.

‘On the second call he booked a flight to Atlanta on June 13.

I still heard the woman crying, but he seemed a lot more calm.

‘Then he said ”Can I ask you a question?”, and I said yes.

He said that he could tell I was from the States and that I seemed like a nice person, and he asked what I would do in his situation.

‘He told me some details, and I was shocked.

Then he said to me ”What do you look like?”, and I described myself – I said I was fair-skinned with green eyes.

‘He said ”You sound like a nice person, I wish I could take you for a meal”.

But I told him I had a boyfriend who gets very jealous.

‘I asked if he was trying to make her jealous, and he just laughed it off and said ”Well, there’s more fish in the sea”.

‘Then he booked his flight and thanked me for the advice, and that was that.

‘

Hourani, who is defending himself, was not in court to challenge the evidence.

He stormed out yesterday afternoon when the judge interrupted his cross-examination of the alleged victim to take urgent evidence from a doctor.

Lebanese-born Hourani, of no fixed address, did not turn up at court today, and the trial was continued in his absence.

The jury has been told he subjected the woman to a 24-hour ordeal, in which he repeatedly assaulted her, performed unnatural sex, and threatened to cut off her nipples.

He denies soliciting to murder, three charges of rape, three indecent assaults, false imprisonment, causing grievous bodily harm, and actual bodily harm.

The trial continues.

ends