Man in court on rape charges

Mark Richard Campbell (38), of Grenville Gardens, Donnington, Chichester, has pleaded not guilty to all the charges which include two alleged rapes on two 15-year-old girls on the same day, August 26, 2004.

The father-of-two also denies five counts of indecent assault, two counts of false imprisonment, two counts of sexual assault and one count of attempted indecent assault. Two counts of burglary between July 1, 2003 and February 14, 2004 are also denied.

In the opening speech by Christine Laing QC, the court was told that the offences involved females aged from 12 to their mid-twenties at isolated locations or in the women's bedrooms after their homes had been broken into.

She told the court that Campbell, who at the time worked as a welder at Smith & Jewell in Chichester, was able to identify many of his victims as single young women and knew when they were likely to be alone in their bedrooms. In some cases he knew their names and that there was evidence that some victims had been stalked, while others had been aware of 'peeping tom activity'.

Several of the victims were restrained using items of their own clothing. Miss Laing said that many of the incidents were characterised by the attacker spending time looking at his victims after items of their clothing had been removed. Many of the attacks began with the defendant saying he wanted money, but often being interrupted in his progress and fleeing the scene.

Commenting on the two burglaries, Miss Laing said: "We say it is highly significant that the two offences of burglary, a crime which on the face of it has no obvious sexual motive, both relate to the theft of computers stolen from single young women, and from the premises of the type that the principal sexual offences have been committed in. It is the Crown's case that these items were taken either in the hope of gaining information on prospective victims or perhaps were compensation for unsuccessful attempts to commit further sexual offences."

Miss Laing said that there was significant scientific evidence linking Campbell to the attacks. In some cases DNA was recovered and a fingerprint was found at another location. Four offences were linked by metal fragments which matched samples from Smith & Jewell. These were found on clothing worn by three of the victims at the time of the attacks and on the bedding of another.

The court heard that during the first incident, which occurred in 1998, a woman was attacked at her home in Bognor while her young children were asleep. She was woken up at around 10.30pm by a man putting a hand over her mouth. The woman was told not to move or look at the man and that if she lay still she and her daughter would not be hurt. After asking about money, he rifled through her bag and tied her hands behind her back using her daughter's tights and covered her mouth and eyes with her daughter's sweatshirt. Before leaving he carried out several lewd acts.

The case continues.