Two women have told a jury of sex ordeals at the hands of the former York psychiatrist they believed would help them.

The elder of the two thought Dr William Kerr was the only man with the key to curing the depression that made her suicidal.

The younger was under pressure from her boyfriend to have an abortion - and needed the doctor's authorisation before she could have the operation.

Both alleged to a jury at Leeds Crown Court that he had sex with them without their consent in his surgery on Dragon Parade, Harrogate, 30 years ago.

The older said: "He told me that was what I needed. He exposed himself. I can't remember at what point I did anything. I think I just followed his instructions.

"We had sexual intercourse."

"What did you think at the time?" asked Paul Worsley, QC, prosecuting.

"This was the man who could help me get better."

She said she turned to Dr Kerr for help when she was suicidal in Harrogate, aged 20. She had moved to the town to escape domineering parents, on another psychiatrist's advice, after spending time in a mental hospital suffering from depression.

She alleged she went back to the surgery because she "didn't have anyone else to talk to in Harrogate" - and the doctor again had sex with her.

Dr Kerr, 75, of Alne, near Easingwold, was not in court. Another jury has already decided he is unfit to plead and the current one must decide if he did commit the acts of four rapes and 15 indecent assaults during two decades.

The younger woman alleged she was desperate to get an abortion when she was 18. Her boyfriend had threatened to leave her if she gave birth to his child.

She first saw Dr Kerr at Harrogate General Hospital, where he performed a sexual act and told her to come to Dragon Parade.

When she arrived, he locked them into the surgery.

"I looked for a nurse. I thought there would be other people in there. I could not find anyone. It made me more nervous. He asked me to lie down and take my underwear off," said the younger woman.

"I felt frightened and really, really embarrassed. I was humiliated. But I dared not say anything. He was powerful, just important. If he didn't sign that piece of paper for me, there was no-one else who could help me." He had sex with her and authorised the abortion.

"I felt ashamed and dirty and humiliated. I felt really dirty," said the younger woman.

"How long did you feel like that?" asked Mr Worsley.

"Ever since. It lasted a long time. I could not forget it and I still haven't forgotten it."

The woman added that after the abortion, Dr Kerr phoned her at work a few times suggesting they meet up, but she refused.

The hearing continues.