LYONS: RAPIST STOLE WOMAN’S HANDBAG AFTER BEDROOM ATTACK

A masked attacker forced a student to take him to her house where he raped her, a court has heard.

Gary Lyons, 22, allegedly attacked the Estonian barmaid in her locked room before stealing her handbag.

The woman was so terrified that she refused to come out to let police in once she managed to rouse her house mate.

Lyons denies involvement, but a black glove found at the scene matched his DNA, and a second matching glove was found at his girlfriend’s house, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard.

Lesley Jones, prosecuting, said the woman had been returning to her Mile End home after working at a pub in central London at around 3.30am on February 19 this year when she was attacked.

‘She was turning towards that pathway when she was grabbed from behind in what she described as a bear hug, and a hand was out over her face and mouth, a gloved hand.

‘Her immediate thought was perhaps it was somebody she knew.

‘However the person used a lot of force in that bear hug, tugged her further into that alleyway and pushed her on the floor with such force that it actually caused in injury to her eye.’

The assailant, who kept his face covered with a hood or mask, then pulled her to her knees and forced her to perform a sex act on him, claiming that he had a knife.

‘He said if she did as he told, her would let her go,’ said Ms Jones.

The man then demanded that she take him to her home.

Jurors were told the woman agreed, knowing that her flatmate was home and hoping she might be bale to raise the alarm.

But he walked her inside the house with a gloved hand over her face at all times, preventing her from screaming, and locked them inside her bedroom.

Leaving the room in darkness, he removed her clothes and forced her to perform a second sexual act, before indecently assaulting her.

She begged him to let her out of the room to use the toilet and as soon as he opened the door she screamed for her house mate to help.

‘The women remained in [the housemate’s] room, bolted and tried to barricade the door with a chest or piece of furniture,’ said Ms Jones.

‘They were so scared that the attacker was still in the flat, they would not come out of the room.’

When the police arrived they had to use a battering ram to enter as the women were too terrified to come and open the front door.

The woman later realised her attacker had taken her handbag, including a wallet and mobile phone, when he made his escape out of her window.

She was only able to say her attacker was very tall and give details of his clothing.

But police picked up 6ft 5in Lyons after DNA on a black glove found at the scene produced a match.

A matching glove was also found at his girlfriend’s house. She said she woke up the following morning to find him asleep on her sofa.

She also noticed a strange mobile with foreign language texts in the kitchen, which Lyons claimed he had stolen on his way home.

He also explained that he had got mud on his clothing after jumping out of a window ‘like James Bond’ after a security guard caught him in the theft, it was said.

Lyons, of (30) Manor Road, Stratford, east London denies kidnapping, false imprisonment, two counts of rape, assault by penetration and robbery.

The trial continues.

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