Richard Baker, 34, from Bodmin in Cornwall, also said he knew he would be going to prison "for a long time".

Richard Baker: Denies rape

But he appealed to them to clear him of eight charges, including four rapes, which he denies.

"I am going to prison for a long time. Let me go to prison for the right reasons," he said.

Plea for a fresh start

He was asked by Nicholas Hilliard, prosecuting: "You do not want to admit to the full extent of what you did, do you?"

Baker replied in an emotional voice: "Sir, I know I need help with what I have done and the only way to get help is to start afresh.

"I know what I am responsible for and what I am not responsible for."

Baker pleads guilty to four indecent assaults and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

But he denies four charges of rape, two of indecent assault, one of affray and one of attempted indecent assault.

Baker told the court that he was the attacker in the alleged rape cases, but says he stopped short of actually raping the women.

He admitted using threats to terrorise and control his victims.

Earlier he told the court: "I just wanted to be in total control. I terrorised these poor girls. I treated these woman absolutely contemptuously."

Baker admitted that he had threatened to kill the women.

"I tried to put so much fear in them. I just wanted to see their reaction. I wanted to be in control so that they would not resist me, so they would not put up a fight or struggle," he said.

The alleged attacks against women aged between 15 and 25 took place over a eight-month period last year after Baker returned to Britain from Spain, where he worked as a DJ.

Selected lone females

He tended to pick on young, lone women and would sometimes follow them for short distances. He said he had large numbers of girlfriends with whom he "sometimes" had regular sex.

Asked by Mr Nicholas Hilliard, prosecuting, whether he regretted what he had done, Baker replied: "At that time, no."

He said the severity of his crimes hit him after he was arrested last December at Heathrow Airport.