Shop assistant 'raped by robber'

Mr Decoteau was said to be fixated with newsreader Emily Maitlis

A man who has an "unhealthy fixation" with BBC newsreaders Fiona Bruce and Emily Mailtlis raped a woman during an armed robbery, a court has heard.

David Decoteau allegedly warned the Ann Summers shop worker that her "brains would be blown out" before tying her up and stealing £1,500 from the safe.

Southwark Crown Court heard he then partially stripped her and raped her.

Mr Decoteau of Camberwell, south-east, London, denies rape, indecent assault, robbery and false imprisonment.

Dragged into doorway

He also denies a charge of possessing a handgun to commit the robbery in one of the firm's London stores in February 1996.

Prosecutor Allison Hunter said that DNA evidence was recovered during a search of the office but the attacker was never found.

Nine months later Mr Decoteau attacked a 15-year-old girl at a bus stop after a Christmas Eve party.

The girl was dragged into a shop doorway and raped. Mr Decoteau was arrested soon after and jailed for 12 years.

During police surveillance following his release in 2005 officers discovered he had an "unhealthy interest, a fixation with BBC newsreaders Emily Maitlis and Fiona Bruce", said Ms Hunter.

Identification issue

Prosecutors said the break-through in the Ann Summers case came as a result of a Home Office directive to re-examine all unsolved sex attacks.

This resulted in a one-in-a-billion match with the defendant, Ms Hunter said.

The jury was told that because there was no dispute the shop attack had happened the assistant would not be giving evidence.

Ms Hunter said the issue was one of identification and the defendant was challenging the integrity of the DNA procedure that had allegedly identified him.

The case continues.