A YOUNG mother whose son woke up to find her being sexually attacked by a masked intruder told a court yesterday the little boy still speaks of the attack, two years after it happened.

Teesside Crown Court heard the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, say she and her son had fallen asleep on the sofa on March 19, 2000.

When she woke up, she said, a man wearing a balaclava was looking over her. He threatened to hurt her son if she did not do as he asked and he began to sexually assault her, she said.

However when she cried "no" her son woke up, and the masked man ran off.

She told the court: "He still remembers the man who was in the house with the mask on."

The woman was giving evidence at the trial of diesel fitter Timothy Din, who the prosecution claim is the man responsible for a rape and three attempted rapes between November 1999 and December 2000 at addresses in Thornaby, near Stockton, Teesside.

Mr Din, 44, of Yeovil Walk, Hartlepool, denies a charge of rape on November 23, 1999, and attempted rape on February 4 and 20, 2000, and March 19, 2000.

He also denies burglary with intent to rape on December 10, 2000.

Another woman, also who cannot be named, told the court yesterday she and her partner were returning home at about 5am on December 10, 2000, when she saw a man hiding in the garden, wearing a balaclava. She said the two men began struggling and her partner pulled the balaclava off the man. DNA later linked the balaclava to Mr Din.

In a police interview Mr Din said he had been out stealing diesel, and had gone into the garden to hide after having been chased.

A colleague of Mr Din from Hudson's Taxis in Hartlepool, Andrew Bortolo, told the court Mr Din had told him he went out every night to siphon diesel.

The trial continues.