AN accomplice in a sex sting that left a terrified pensioner fearing a rape charge walked free from court yesterday.

Alex Clarke was freed after a judge heard he has spent the equivalent of a two-year sentence behind bars on remand.

Clarke, 25, was recruited by prostitute Joanne Metcalfe to steal from punters who visited her Darlington brothel.

Scheming Metcalfe, 30, advertised her “massage” services in a national newspaper throughout 2009.

When a 68-year-old man called on October 9, he made an appointment at the parlour.

He was met by a bikini-clad woman calling herself Nicole, who led him upstairs and offered him “full personal” for £60.

After undressing, he was lying face down on the bed when Clarke burst in, claiming to be the woman’s husband.

Paul Newcombe, prosecuting, said Clarke yelled at the man: “Get out or I’ll cut your knackers off.”

The victim fled but later returned to the flat, in Orchard Road, to challenge the couple when he realised £180 was missing.

Mr Newcombe said the “hapless”

pensioner was told he would be accused of rape if he went to the police.

Clarke admitted conspiracy to steal and was given a community order with 12 months of Probation Service supervision.

Metcalfe, of Orchard Road, Darlington, was jailed for three years at Teesside Crown Court last year.

She pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal and conspiracy to rob a different customer in a similar scam months earlier.

Her accomplice in the first sting, a 17-year-old from Darlington, was sent to a young offenders’ institution for 18 months.

The court heard that their botched plan on August 1 ended in bloodshed for teenage accomplice, Alexander Millar.

The pair had no idea the person they lured to Metcalfe’s flat was a soldier.

As the naked squaddie was getting a massage, Millar burst into the room, screaming: “What you doing with my f***ing girlfriend?”

Despite being armed with an asp and a knife, the teenager was head-butted and repeatedly hit by the 26-year-old soldier before bursting into tears.

Metcalfe was given bail, but within six weeks recruited Clarke for the next sting.

Anne Richardson, in mitigation, said Clarke, of Kitchener Street, Darlington, had plans to move to Manchester.