Woman paid man £20,000 not to rape her

A terrified woman wrote a would-be rapist a £20,000 cheque to leave her alone.

The frightened victim had the brainwave after a sex attacker barged into her home, pinned her against a wall and ordered her to get undressed.

As Martin Cartwright, 49, began undoing his trousers, the woman offered him the money.

Cartwright took the cheque and left but warned her: "If you say anything, even in a thousand years, I'll kill you."

Prosecutor Tim Forster told a court: "He paid the money into his bank account. He told cashiers he had won the lottery." When police caught up with Cartwright, he claimed he had heard voices from Jesus "saying I should rape someone".

Cartwright, from Guildford, Surrey, was ordered to be held in a secure psychiatric unit indefinitely after admitting attempted rape, sexual assault, and attempted robbery during a three-month crime spree last year. It included an attempted rape in South West London when he barged into a woman's house armed with a knife.