A patient of former York psychiatrist Dr William Kerr fled in terror from his surgery when he committed a sex act in her presence, a court heard today.

The woman, who is now middle-aged, ran up the road from the Harrogate practice and was physically sick after the incident.

"I was horrified at what he had done," she told the jury.

The patient was giving evidence at a special "finding of fact" hearing at Leeds Crown Court, held to determine whether Dr Kerr carried out four rapes and 15 indecent assaults between the 1960s and the 1980s in York, Harrogate, Knaresborough, Ferrensby, Ripon and Newton-on-Ouse.

A jury decided in April that Dr Kerr, 75, of Alne, near Easingwold, was not fit to plead because of mental impairment and so a different jury is now seeking to determine whether he committed the alleged acts.

The woman told the court that she had been referred to Dr Kerr by her GP after complaining of problems in her marriage.

She said she had been fainting regularly and had been admitted to hospital.

"He (Dr Kerr) said it was all down to sex" the woman said.

"But I told him I didn't think I had a problem with sex."

The woman told the jury how she would see Dr Kerr during the stay at Clifton Hospital.

"I was frightened. I hated having to go and see him, but as much as I tried to fight, the nurse physically pulled me into the room."

She said her 20-minute sessions with Dr Kerr "seemed like an eternity".

"He kept drumming into me that my problem was down to sex and I started crying," she said.

"He would pull my face into his crotch and hold it there. It seemed like forever" she said.

The woman said this happened every time she saw Dr Kerr.

After she was discharged from hospital the woman was given appointments to see Dr Kerr at his Harrogate surgery.

She said on one occasion she heard an unusual noise and turned round to see Dr Kerr committing a sex act.

"I got up and ran out of the room" she said.

"I ran out of the door and up the street, then I leaned over a wall and was sick."

She said she never saw Dr Kerr again and only reported the incident when she learned police were investigating him.

The hearing continues.