A WOMAN who woke to find a man having sex with her thought it was her partner at first, a court was told yesterday.

Instead, it was 28-year-old Steven George Mason, who had crept into the woman's home through an unlocked rear door, said Christine Egerton, prosecuting.

Teesside Crown Court heard that the woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was sleeping on the sofa and, once she woke, was unable to see the face of the man because it was dark.

Ms Egerton said the woman had been drinking and smoking cannabis earlier in the evening had gone to sleep on the downstairs sofa after arguing with her partner.

The rear door of their Hartlepool home had been left open because the couple's son was out and did not have a key.

She woke to find a man having sex with her, and quickly realised it was not her partner, since he was taller, of a larger frame and "smelt different".

Ms Egerton said Mr Mason then went upstairs to the toilet, but was chased out of the house by the woman's partner and son.

He was subsequently attacked and sought refuge in a house nearby, whose occupants called police.

The woman, who gave evidence on the first day of Mr Mason's trial, said she felt numb after the alleged attack.

She said: "I just stayed there on the settee. It felt like a long time. I was trying to get my head round what had just happened."

Ian West, for Mr Mason, suggested she had gone outside the house either for fresh air or a cigarette and had struck up a conversation with his client as he walked past.

He said that, by her admission, the woman was drunk and said she invited Mr Mason inside, where they had unprotected sex.

The woman denied this, telling Mr West: "I just do not go out and ask anybody to come into my house uninvited."

Mr Mason, of Windemere Road, Hartlepool, denies rape and trespass with intent to commit a sexual offence on May 7. The trial continues