A young mother told a court yesterday how she was savagely beaten and raped in her home after she returned from a night out with friends.

The woman, who cannot be named, said she had just got home, early on March 26 last year, when Stuart McSkelly, 28, arrived at her door and pushed his way in.

She told the jury at Newcastle Crown Court: "I went into the kitchen and put the kettle on.

"When I turned round, he punched me in the face, he grabbed me by the hair, and I ended up on the kitchen floor.

"He had me by the head and was banging my head on the floor. Then he tried to choke me.

"He went to the kitchen drawer and got out a knife. He said he was going to kill me. He held it against my throat and just kept saying it. His voice was really weird.

"I was crying. I thought he was going to kill me."

The mother told the court how McSkelly's mood changed and he started cleaning the blood from her face.

"She said: "He was dabbing the blood as if he had not done it. He seemed different again. He was consoling me as if he had not done what he did."

The woman said McSkelly's mood changed again and he raped her on the living room floor.

McSkelly, of Charlaw Close, Sacriston, County Durham, denies rape and making a threat to kill. The trial continues.