A Wearside woman told a court how she thought she would be killed after a stranger raped her in her own home.

The 28-year-old was attacked by Peter Edwards, 42, on February 23 last year, Newcastle Crown Court was told.

She invited him into her home after he had asked the whereabouts of a friend who had left the area.

Prosecutor Anne Richardson told the court how, once inside, Mr Edwards pounced on her after trying to force her to perform a sex act.

The woman said: "I thought he was going to kill me, I thought he was going to rape me and he did rape me, then I thought he would kill me."

Miss Richardson said: "Her ordeal lasted for about 15 minutes before he walked to the door and said 'I'll be back'."

The woman told how after the attack she felt "filthy" and wandered about the flat "in a trance" and crying.

She said she had wanted to throw herself out of a window.

"I went into the shower and washed away everything. I used bleach to wash. I then went in the bath before I contacted the police."

Mr Edwards told police that although he had slept with the woman he had not raped her.

He claimed she must have got someone else to bruise her arms, to back up her story.

Mr Edwards, a married man, of Pennine Court, Doxford Park, Sunderland, denies rape.

The trial continues.