The judge in the trial of the York man accused of attempting to rape his pen pal at knifepoint was today summing up.

Christopher Kevin Bateman, aged 28, is accused of twice going into the bedroom of a 30-year old Worksop woman and getting into bed with her naked while she was visiting him in York.

On the second occasion he is alleged to have tried to force himself upon her while holding a knife.

Bateman, of Hemlock Avenue, Huntington, denies attempted rape and an alternative charge of indecent assault.

In her closing speech to the jury today defence counsel Fiona Dix-Dyer claimed that the most important aspect of the case was what was missing.

She reminded the jury that there was no evidence of any injury on either the woman or Bateman, although the alleged victim claims he tried to force her legs apart.

She also claimed that he pulled her pyjama shorts and pants off.

But, said Miss Dix-Dyer, neither item of clothing showed damage.

She also pointed out that at no time did the woman try to lock the bedroom door although it had a large lock that was perfectly visible and that she did not tell the police until she had left the house in York and returned to her home in Worksop, Nottinghamshire.

Miss Dix-Dyer alleged that the woman had been perfectly composed when she caught a taxi from the house to go to the railway station and that, if she had been the victim of a "brutal" man wielding a knife she would not have asked the taxi to come in 30 minutes, as she did.

In her speech to the jury, prosecuting counsel Kate Buckingham reminded the jury that the woman's nightshirt had been ripped, and that two buttons from it were found in the bedroom where the alleged rape attempt took place.

One of the buttons was broken in three portions.

She repeated evidence that the woman had telephoned a friend in Worksop in a very distressed state, immediately after Bateman left the house, and telephoned twice more again in a distressed state, on her way home.

As soon as she arrived in Worksop she had tried unsuccessfully to find a police officer she knew, before contacting a detective and making the rape allegation.

She reminded the jury that the woman had alleged she did not want to hurt Bateman because she was afraid of what he would do with the knife and that the shorts and pants were of very loosely elasticated material.

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