A CONVICTED rapist subjected a woman to a terrifying ordeal during an evening eating pizza, York Crown Court heard.

David Arthur Hunter, 46, was calm during the incident which included him getting on top of the woman on a bed, pressing her into a sofa, waving a knife and locking her into his home, said Brooke Morrison, prosecuting.

At one stage after she had run to the door screaming, she told him: “You have just tried to kill me.”

Hunter replied “I know I have", the court heard.

He was on prison parole from a 16-year sentence for rape and other sex offences at the time. 

When she finally managed to get out of the house, he opened her car door for her and told her to “drive safely”, said the prosecution barrister.

She drove away from the house and rang her husband for help.

Hunter’s actions left her permanently physically scarred, mentally affected and needing anti-depressants and terrified to go shopping on her own in case she encounters him again, the barrister said.

Hunter, of no fixed address and formerly of the Whitby area, pleaded guilty to causing actual bodily harm on the day of his trial.

“This ordeal was prolonged and it must have been extremely frightening for her,” said Judge Simon Hickey.

He passed an extended sentence consisting of a 21-month prison term plus two years’ extended licence on release.

York Crown Court heard that Hunter was convicted of several sex offences including rape against another woman and jailed for 16 years in 2011. He was released on parole in December 2018 and has now been recalled to prison to continue serving the sentence.

Ms Morrison said Hunter had known the first woman for some years. After drinking socially, they had gone back to his house to have some pizza.

But when she went into the bathroom, he followed her and made her feel uncomfortable to the point where she left the room and went into a bedroom.

He pushed her onto the bed, got on top of her and she got him off by kicking him in the crotch.

He slapped her in the face and when she went downstairs struck her in the face again.

He hit her onto the sofa and put his hand over her nose and mouth so that she couldn’t breathe as he pushed her into the sofa until she “lost the energy” to resist.

When he stopped, she ran to the door screaming.

He grabbed her phone out of her hand and had locked the front door. Then he went to the kitchen and got a 12-inch knife which he waved around, the court was told.

After getting out of the house, she went to accident and emergency. Her injuries included a torn shoulder, bruising all over her body, and a cut lip.

Defence barrister Zarreen Alam-Cheetam said Hunter had done “everything he could” to stay out of trouble after his release from prison and accepted he needed to improve how he related to people.

Hunter "struggled with communication" and had not planned the attack, the barrister added.