Killer 'shocked' by rape claim

A man convicted of murder when he was 16 and now accused of raping a woman while on parole has told a court he had been "shocked" by the claim.

Mark Shirley is accused of imprisoning the woman in her Bristol home and carrying out the attack with a knife.

It has been claimed that he was re-enacting elements of a murder he committed 22 years earlier in Cardiff.

But the defendant, now 39, told Bristol Crown Court that he had done nothing wrong. The trial continues.

"I don't know why these things have been said about me, unless they're trying to stick me back in prison," he told the jury.

The court has been told that he was convicted of murdering 67-year-old Mary Wainwright in Cardiff in 1987.

He received a life sentence but was released on parole in 2003 after 16 years. But he was later recalled to prison for excessive drinking.

'Solicitors' advice'

It is alleged that the latest assault was carried out seven months after he was re-released from jail in August 2008.

He told the court no such attack took place, though he admitted being with the alleged victim at the time the offence is said to have taken place.

He also told the told the jury that he given "no comment" in police interview because he was "following the advice of his solicitors".

Mr Shirley, of no fixed address, faces one count of rape, one of false imprisonment, three counts of assault by penetration and one count of committing false imprisonment with the intention of committing a sexual offence.