'Lengthy prison term' for sex attack on great-grandmother

Frances Doran waived her right to anonymity in the hope it would lead to Michael Rochester's arrest.

The 26-year-old builder's labourer broke into Mrs Doran's home in Grangetown, Sunderland, in November.

He then subjected her to a sex ordeal which left the widow injured and traumatised.

But Mrs Doran took the courageous decision to speak out.

Sitting in her hospital bed, days after the attack, she said: "I just want him to know what he has done to me and want him to see the pain he has caused."

Rochester was caught within days of her appeal. Yesterday, he appeared before Newcastle Crown Court, where he admitted attempted rape, indecent assault and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Judge David Hodson said: "For offences of this nature, the overwhelming likelihood is a substantial term in custody."

Mrs Doran was attacked as she lay asleep in her bed in her one-bedroom flat.

Rochester broke into the flat in the early hours, but it was hours later before she was able to make a tearful telephone call to her daughter to cry for help.

Shortly afterwards, her daughter, Denise Timney, 48, told of the moment when she realised her mother had been the victim of a sex attack.

Mrs Timney and her husband Ian, a 49-year-old joiner, contacted police who rushed to her mother's aid.

Mrs Doran was taken to Sunderland Royal Hospital where a medical examination revealed the extent of her ordeal.

Mrs Doran chose to live on her own, and despite a heart condition, which left her in hospital in the summer, she lived an independent life before the attack.

Only days after leaving hospital in July, she attended her grand-daughter's wedding, and the brave pensioner insisted on pushing herself to her feet on crutches to pose for wedding photographs.

Once a cleaner, she lost her husband of 47 years, John, a shipyard worker, who died aged 72 in 1982 after suffering long bouts of chest trouble