A RAPIST was on bail for a similar offence when he assaulted a prostitute and threatened her with a screwdriver, it was revealed in court yesterday.

Anthony Curran had been accused of raping a woman at his flat nine months before he raped the prostitute. A jury found him not guilty of the earlier offence, Teesside Crown Court heard yesterday.

The 21-year-old was yesterday found guilty of raping the prostitute when the jury returned a ten to two majority verdict after four hours and fifteen minutes of deliberation. He had denied the charge.

During the trial his victim told the court that Curran had said to her: "In six days it will be a year since your friend Vicky Glass was murdered. How do you know I won't do the same to you?"

The horrifying ordeal took place on September 16, last year, at Curran's filthy flat at Gosford Mews, St Hilda's, Middlesbrough.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she had met Curran in town and he offered her £150 to spend the night with him. But once at the house he pinned her to a settee and raped her twice, while threatening her with a screwdriver.

She said: "He said he could do anything he wanted to me because I was a prostitute and a smack head. He said 'if you disappeared, who would be bothered?'."

When he refused to let her go, she ran for the back door but found it had been wedged shut. She said: "When I saw that I just thought he was going to kill me." She was then raped again.

Judge Anthony Briggs adjourned sentence for the preparation of pre-sentence reports.

A police spokeswoman said the information about what Curran had said regarding Vicky Glass had been passed on to the team investigating her murder