A SUFFOLK mother told how a man raped her friend at knifepoint then attacked her. The mother of two told Ipswich Crown Court that Lee Thompson had allegedly raped her friend while holding a knife to her eye in a flat near Bury St Edmunds.

A SUFFOLK mother told how a man raped her friend at knifepoint then attacked her.

The mother of two told Ipswich Crown Court that Lee Thompson had allegedly raped her friend while holding a knife to her eye in a flat near Bury St Edmunds.

She said when she arrived at the flat: "he grabbed me by the throat, he shook me and pushed me backwards, he is an animal and I was frightened."

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was giving evidence against Thompson, 32, of Diana Close, Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire. He has denied false imprisonment, indecent assault, two offences of rape and one offence of assault by beating.

The woman said that she had been held hostage at the flat and Thompson had taken her mobile telephone from her. She said she had managed to escape and telephoned the police for help.

When she returned to the flat with the police she said her friend was "very distressed" the court heard. "She was rocking backwards and forwards, she was sobbing and in a state, I gave her a hug," she said.

"She told me he raped her and held a knife near her eye." The woman said her friend had also told her about an earlier incident when Thompson had raped her in a car in a car park.

The trial continues.