KIMBLESWORTH MAN SENTENCED TO 12 YEARS FOR ASSAULT AND RAPE
A VICIOUS rapist was jailed for 12 years yesterday for two terrifying attacks on women as they walked home.Michael Marsden, 21, will face a further supervision period of four years after admitting raping one woman and attempting to rape another.
He claimed he attacked them because of the emotional scars left through being bullied as a boy.
During the first attack he held a 17-year-old at knife-point and raped her.
One month later, he held an imitation gun to a 17-year-old student's head, then dragged her into a back lane, and tried to rape her.
Newcastle Crown Court heard that the first attack, on December 14, last year, happened after the woman got off a bus at Albany Way, Washington, Tyne and Wear, at about 8.30pm.
Marsden grabbed her from behind and held a 12-inch blade to her throat before frog-marching her to a deserted pathway.
The second attack happened on January 15, after he followed a student home from the Lambton Worm pub, in Chester-Le-Street, at about 11.15pm.
Marsden, who lives with his adoptive parents, in Hawthorne Close, Kimblesworth, County Durham, was arrested days after the second attack.
He had admitted rape, attempted rape and possession of an imitation firearm.
